My mom does literally everything for me, and always has. I thank her for the things she does, but it doesn’t seem like nearly enough, so this week I’d like to dedicate this article to her.

1. Always answering your phone

It doesn’t matter if you’ve just gotten off of work and are dead tired, at the grocery store, or at work, when I call, you always answer and deal with whatever trivial problem that is plaguing my life. The rare occasion you don’t answer and I leave you the “I don’t know what you could possibly be doing, I am your entire life!” voicemail, you call me back ASAP and put up with me. I’m currently on the phone with you (getting on your nerves, as you lovingly put it) because I needed to tell you about the cute little monkey in the Disney Nature movie I’m watching on Netflix that has me in tears. I love you. Thank you.

2. Talking to the doctor for me

I have been having a pain in my chest for a while, and last Friday morning, I went to the doctor by myself to get it checked out again. I’m in San Francisco, you’re in Los Angeles. It’s 9 am and I’m texting you from the waiting room and then the exam room. The doctor tells me he wants to stick a needle in the center of my sternum and inject me with lidocaine, so I picked up the phone to call you. I had been near tears the entire time and because I didn’t know what to ask or how to explain what the doctor was saying, you talked to him for me. Then you answered my call when I left the hospital and broke down in tears because I had been so scared. I love you. Thank you.

3. Sending me money

You already do so much: you pay my tuition, my sorority dues, take care of my dog (whom you didn’t even want in the first place) and yet you never complain. You still ask me if I have money, and if I need for you to send me money. I hate asking you for money, absolutely detest it. The rare instances in which I do, I’m swallowing a great deal of pride. The best times are when I mention how broke I am, and don’t get paid for a week, and you silently transfer money into my account so I don’t die. Thank you. I love you.

4. Proofreading my essays...half an hour before they’re due

You try to tell me to start my essays earlier. You say it’s difficult to do that when you are the Queen of Procrastination. I never listen; if I start a paper earlier than the day before it’s due, I give myself three days max to do it. Doesn’t matter how long I have, I just won’t start, no matter how much I tell myself to. I do the bulk of it, the day before it’s due, depending on what time it needs to be submitted, I may stay up super late drinking Monsters or write the last two pages in the afternoon and call you half an hour before my deadline to read through it because I just can’t. And you do. Every single time. You offer feedback and help me get the best grade I can possibly get, writing a 5 page paper in 2 hours (true story!). Thank you! Seriously, me and my GPA thank you for this one.

5. Always being in my corner