Dear Mom,

‪Even though I come home from college for almost every holiday, I can’t help but think that some holidays are not the same anymore. I remember when my siblings and I were younger on Valentine's Day. February 14th used to be my favorite day of the year because of all of the important lessons that you taught me.

‪You always taught me that everyone in my elementary school class deserved a Valentine, even if they were “the weird kid” or perhaps someone that I did not like. You taught me that for all I knew, a small card on a hallmark holiday, could make a classmate’s day. You taught me that everyone, no matter how young or how old, is probably fighting their own battle and sometimes people just need a friend.

You taught me, not only on Valentine's Day, to love. Not only did you teach me to love, but you taught me to love unconditionally. You taught me to love my family, my friends, and love myself. You taught me to always say “I love you” to family and other close people because you never know what could happen.

Every year you reminded me that giving was more important than receiving and that holidays were more important than either giving or receiving. From you, I learned that making someone in my class happy on Valentine's Day was far more important than competing on who received the most cards during the classroom’s party.

You taught me to be mindful, thoughtful, and sentimental. Every year, it was an exciting trip to the store to pick out which Valentines would be perfect to hand out to everyone in my class and more. I spent extreme amounts of time sitting in the aisle of the dollar store thinking about the cards that would represent my classmates best. I remember being able to sit at the dining room table with a list of other students and carefully picking out which card fit best with each classmate.

‪So, because of the important lessons that you taught me every Valentine's Day when I was little, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for shaping me into the person that I am today. Because of you, I am the friend that loves to give all of their friends unexpected presents or cards because of their reactions. Thank you for making me into the person that understands that everyone is fighting their own battle and everyone deserves a chance. Thank you for taking me to the store and letting me take 30 minutes picking out which Valentine card would be best for my classmates because now I am the person that spends 30 minutes in the card aisle of the store picking out the most thoughtful greeting card.

‪Thank you for being my lifelong mentor, my best friend, and my Valentine for life.

‪From,

Your Loving Daughter