To my mom, my mother, my momma, my idol:

I love you so much. Without you, I would never be here where I am right now (quite literally). You've been my biggest inspiration for all twenty-one years of my life. You are so strong, so compassionate, and so incredibly generous. There are so many good things I could say about you. The list could go on forever. Right now, I am homesick and missing you while I sit a few hundred miles away in my college apartment alone and without you, and I wanted to take a moment to tell you:

Thank you.

Thank you for all that you, because you do a lot. You are a mother, a wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister, and such a hard working individual. No one ever gives you enough credit for just how much you do for other people. You continually put others before yourself when it comes to family, friends, and even your job. You are the backbone of our family and without you our home would most definitely fall apart. You make sure that me, dad, Jake, and the dog, well, make it. You do everything. You never miss an opportunity to care for or support any of us. Thank you for the hot dinners, the care packages. Thank you for driving for fifteen hours across three states in the snow to watch me run for just twenty-two minutes. Thank you for for every text to say good-morning and thank you for every call to say good-night. For that, and for everything, I thank you. I don't think you could ever hear that phrase enough. We appreciate you so much. We would be nothing without you. And you deserve all the love you give others.

I love you.

I love you for giving me life, for loving me, for sacrificing so much so that I can have so much. You're not only my mom, you're my role model and my best friend. You're my number one fan and you support me in everything that I do. You listen to me complain and cry and laugh. You lift me up when I am at my absolute lowest, and laugh with me when I am at my highest. You are the only person I can turn to when I feel like everything is falling apart. You continually offer guidance and advice when I feel hopeless. I've never loved anyone like I love you. And you love me unconditionally. I'm so blessed to have been raised by you. I'm so blessed to have such a strong and compassionate person to look up to. You make me want to be a better person. I can only hope that I "grow up" to be half as an incredible woman as you are.

You deserve so much more than I have given you because of everything you have given me. I hope one day that I can pay you back for all that you've done, but for right here, right now, I'll just say this: Thank you. I love you. I hope you have the best birthday.

Love you to the moon and back,

Your little girl