First, it goes without saying, but I love you. You are a rock and one of the few constants in my life and I am assured that I could search all this earth and not find a mother I could love more than you. Not only that, but my notion of what it even means to love comes largely from the example you displayed for all my young, formative years and every year since. Before I could fathom the giving, patient, kind, selfless, tireless, sacrificing effort it takes to love another person, you showed it to me. You worked hard to help me have a better life than I could have hoped or asked for. You went the extra mile to make life what you thought I deserved. I know you don’t always think you did the best, but I look back and I know you went above and beyond.

Second, I want to say thank you. I know I say thank you when you give me that Christmas present that wasn’t what I asked for but was exactly what I didn’t know I needed, or when you tell me when I walk in that you’ve scheduled a dental appointment for me- that one adult responsibility that I cannot seem to bring myself to assume quite yet. Those things are natural and easy to throw an offhanded “thank you” for. But there is so much more that comes to me, so many subtle, nuanced things that come to me in fleeting moments and strong feelings that I do not thank you for enough- things that have molded my heart, constructed my character, built my faith in Christ, and formed the young woman I am today.

Thank you for encouraging my education.

Most people that know me- friends, family, and near-strangers alike-know I am an intelligent young woman. From a young age, I was zealously searching for knowledge to soak into my tiny brain and shoving my nose into every book I could find. As I grew older, I excelled in school and manifested a talent for writing. While it’s easy to chalk these things up to genetics and God’s gifting (and those things have a basis in fact), that does not nearly account for all the success and achievement I have seen in my near-20 years of life. Much of that, in fact, I owe to you- you who took me to every spelling bee and never withheld a book from me. You, who taught me to read and write before I even went to school, and praised me for every A Honor Roll ribbon I brought home. You, who were my first study buddy and the first to push me on to my goals, who bragged about me when you told people I wanted to be a pediatrician before I was 10. I would not be where I am in life-- at college, on multiple scholarships, doing a major and double minor, with a 3.9 GPA-- without your constant and reliable encouragement all the years of my life. You don’t get nearly enough credit for all the work you did to get me here, but never forget how important it was and how thankful I am.

Thank you for investing in what I love.

I am a girl of…eclectic taste to say the least, and I always have been. One need only to take a glance at my room to attest to that. While some parents struggle to keep up with their children’s rapidly changing phases, and you never missed a beat, and I have always thought about how awesome that is. When I developed a passion for Egyptology, you didn’t hesitate to buy me every book about it that piqued my interest. When Audrey Hepburn was my thing, you themed my entire birthday party after her and it was lovely, even though I never even mentioned it. When I rapidly began binging on Doctor Who and Sherlock, you sent me articles on Facebook about Steven Moffat interviews. When 2^nd and Charles opened, the gift cards you gave me on holidays shifted from Barnes and Noble to 2^nd and Charles with the knowledge that the latter was the home of all my geek needs and desires. Even when I wanted to take my college and career plans in an 180 and switch my major from a hard science to English, you didn’t even falter. You guessed I was changing my major before I even got the words from my mouth and you have been right behind me every moment since. You cannot fathom how much I have treasured the experience of sharing what I love with one of the people I love most. The way that you so diligently endeavor to involve yourself in my life and my interests is so thoughtful, so loving, and is one of the coolest things about you. It has shown me how loving others means taking an active hand in their life and doing everything you can to invest your heart and time into what they love.

Thank you for your fierce independence.

If we are being honest, I know life wasn’t easy for you for a while. I never remember being in need, but all the years where it was just you and I, alone, I know that it must have been tough, emotionally, financially, mentally, and spiritually. I know that’s likely a time you would wish to never go back to. Yet those years showed me something I sorely needed that goes so unappreciated and too little celebrated about you- how to be independent. All those years you mowed our grass and paid our bills while also being the nurturing hand that held my hand during nighttime prayers and tucked me in. You showed me what it meant to be tough and tenacious, and you still do. While it can border on a stubborn refusal of help from time to time (I get it honestly), it mostly stems from a healthy, admirable sense of self-sufficiency. Because of you, I can do my laundry, feed myself, manage my money, lift heavy and awkward things, shop on a budget, clean a house, and a myriad of other things that are vital to survival. Growing up with a superhero like you as an example, I learned how to do what the world requires to step confidently and construct a functioning adult life. I’m still working on that one, but I am so thankful every day for that tenacity and capability you show every day, even when you probably don’t have the energy to make the effort. It inspires me.

Thank you for showing me what I want to be.

I love being able to talk about you because so many of the things I admire in you are the same things I aspire to. Some children shudder to be compared to their parents, but when I am compared to you, it is a treasured compliment. When I think of you, I think of a true Christian saint- dignified, wise, tested by fire, strong, driven by love, joyful in good and bad circumstances, perseverant. When I look at you, I see not only what I hope to someday be in a wife and mother, but in many ways, a follower of Christ. I am finally at an age in life where I have learned enough to begin teaching you things, but I love still being able to learn something new from you every day. I see the way you give love and patience to everyone, the same way I described above that you graciously lavished on me. That’s significant. That type of patience is radical and hard and I know that there is not a day goes by where you attain perfection, but I cannot even possibly imagine how you strive and do it so well. I see the way that you patiently help clean up the worst mess the boys have ever made, even though it is their fault, and without grumbling. I notice how you moved my laundry over to the dryer before I even realized the washer had stopped. I mark how you show honor continually to your own mother, valuing her perspective and counsel in your life as a wise woman should take the advice of the Godly people in her life. You extend love to so many and in so many ways, I cannot even number them. I see those. Don’t suspect that they go unnoticed. Your actions paint both a picture of what I aspire to be in a wife and mother and casts a reflection of the traits you have that now inhabit me.

These things and more may seem easy and effortless to you. Maybe they do not. But they make up much of who you are. In my eyes, you truly are a hero, a trooper, a rock, a saint, a cheerleader, a role model, and one of my very best of friends. Every part of who you are has formed me. Much of what you see that is good is owing to you. That’s why, on this (belated) Mother’s Day, I celebrate you not just as the woman that birthed me, but the one who made me as well.

Endless love and unending thankfulness,

Your Loganberry