Dear mom,

I love you. You are the woman I look up to. You are my very first best friend. You are the woman who brought me into this world and I will never take advantage of that. This is a letter to you to say thank you for everything you have given me and will continue to give me.

Thank you for staying home to raise us girls. Not a lot of mothers may realize how important this is. After realizing daycare was not for us girls, you decided to leave what you loved to do and raise us. That takes a strong woman! Being able to come home from school and have cheesy rice, fish sticks and green beans ready for us was the best thing about my childhood, to say the least! You were always present and that is something I will forever remember.

Thank you for always supporting me. You pushed me to do whatever I wanted whether that be art, dancing or singing Brittany Spears on the karaoke machine which I will be reminded of for the rest of my life! But, even if you thought I would not be good at something you would always push me to try it. It helped me get out of my comfort zone and by doing that helped me become a more social person.

Thank you for all of the boy advice. Even though I did not think you were right at the time, I now know you are. You were right about everything and thank you for being patient and waiting for me to realize it myself. I know I still do not know everything I need to know about boys, but I feel like I have a good idea thanks to you.

Thank you for always being my shoulder to cry on. Whether it be about boys, fighting with my sisters or friends, or even just the time of the month you let me cry to you until I was alright. And if I was being over dramatic you would tell me to suck it up and move on. If I was wrong you would tell me and still do tell me I am wrong and tell me how I need to fix it.

Lastly, thank you for always teaching me how to do the little things. You taught me how to write a check. You taught me how to do laundry. You taught me how to fill up the car with gas. You taught me how to make my bed. You taught me how to make my first email account. You taught me how to fight my battles whether they were big or small. You also taught me how to be myself and that being anyone other than myself is not what people want to see. You are the best mother a girl could ask for and I do not know what I would do without you at all! I pray to be as half as good as you when I am a mom. I am lucky to call you my mother and also my best friend. Thank you for raising me to be your mini-me!

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Your oldest daughter