Dear Mom,

Through everything in my life, you have been there to support me or gently pull me back to where I need to be. You are supportive but never a pushover. I appreciate the kindness and support that you have modeled for me in the last 19 years of my life.

I would like to apologize for all of the times that I have checked out during conversations and the times that you, and all mothers, have been underappreciated. Your job is the hardest in the world and I have gained a little bit better of an understanding of that through my job as an RA.

Thanks for the opportunity to come to you to process through hard decisions in my life, and I appreciate the honesty and reality that you provide, helping to ground my decision-making process.

I will always cherish our trip to Denver together and have appreciated getting to know you as a person rather than just a parent in the last couple years since then. I have loved growing to see all the ways that I am similar to you, and I love being able to now know you better as a person.

That's all for now, I'm excited to see you this week for Thanksgiving.

Love you,

Joel