Dear Mommy and Daddy,

To begin, I want to thank you for telling me good morning. For daddy letting me high-five him on the way to the bathroom every morning at 6:00 a.m. (Sorry readers, that one’s an inside joke) For mommy having random spurts of self-confidence staring into the mirror saying to herself, “Hello beautiful” *three lip puckers as if to kiss herself for being so hot.* (Another one…) Thank you, Daddy, for pretending not to love our dog and our cat, with exclamations of “Stupid cat…” and “Only mama loves you, I heard her say it!” You may be wondering why I am picking out these specific things, because you both know how insanely odd these things are, and you receive looks of “Who the heck do I live with…” However, each of these things is what makes us so unique together. We do things around each other that we would cringe doing around others. I love the comfort that we have around each other, for not every family has that. I reflect on the last 18 years before I turn 19-years-old, and I cannot help but take note of the spankings, the tea parties, the breaking up of fights between Brother and I and the hugs when I am sad or down. My favorite thing to hear from you two is how proud you are of me, because that’s all I really want. At the same time, my least favorite thing to hear is when I’ve disappointed you, which I hope I haven’t done much of. You’re both the reason that I’ve made you proud. You equipped me with the knowledge, the work ethic, integrity and confidence that success requires. I have a strong love for leadership, and I would not have it if I didn’t have you two as parents and role models. Daddy is one of the strongest leaders I know, and mommy never stops pursuing her dreams… how can I not be successful with parents like that? Success is inevitable. As for my faith and Christianity, I also wouldn’t have as strong of a love for Jesus as I do now if you two didn’t put me in room 122 every Sunday and encouraged me to listen to various adults about why Jesus died for me while I was eating Goldfish and chocolate chip cookies. Fairmount Christian Church gave me a strong foundation, but you two allowed for the creation of the foundation. For that, I cannot thank you enough, especially seeing all of the brokenness around me everyday; you guys allowed for the brokenness that could have easily been implanted in me to be there, but it wasn’t. I truly worry about the type of parent I will be, because I have such high standard to live up to (You two are kind of perfect people)…

I cannot thank you two enough for all of the endless love, guidance and support that I have received over the past 18 (almost 19) years. I will forever have it in my heart, along with your goofiness and never-ending adoration. I love you so much!

Love,

Kimberly Sloan Minor (Your daughter, if you forgot...)