Dear Mom,

Although it often goes unsaid, we love you and our family wouldn’t be who we are without you. You are the most important woman in my life and if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Hell, I wouldn’t even be here today. You are the glue that holds us all together, even when everything seems to be falling apart. You wake up every morning and do more for others than you do for yourself. Your willpower and strength are incomparable, it’s as if whenever you’re around, everything is going to be okay. Your words when you speak to us, bring comfort to our lives. I am well aware there is nothing on this planet that you would allow to come between or before Carly and I, and for that, we thank you.

Your dedication to your own mom has showed us what it is like to not only have responsibilities, but also to do the right things when the time comes. By being my biggest supporter in school, sports, and life, you have always pushed me to be the best person I can be. Since I was a little girl, you told me that I could be whatever I wanted to be when I grew up, as long as I worked hard and never lost sight of who I was and where I came from. It wasn’t until I went away to school that I began to understand the importance of the second part of that statement. In a world, where there is so much negativity and so many people trying to bring you down, I’ve been able to overcome that because of you. You’ve never let the negativity outweigh your optimism and because of that, you have shown Carly and I to do the same.

Now, with everything that you do great, you have some downfalls, like never asking for help and doing everything on your own. It all comes down to how selfless you are and do these things without even being asked. But now that we are old enough to understand and to be able to help, it’s time you start asking others for help when you need it. You don’t always have to carry all the burden on yourself. You have done your part in raising us and making sure we can not only survive, but succeed in the real world, and we have proved to you that we can. Now, it’s our time to take care of you, and we are ready to do so. I can’t imagine what this world would look like without you in it, but it wouldn’t be pretty. We love you Mom and we idolize you for all that you do and all that you are.

Kristi