Some people will believe me when I say that parents are the greatest thing on this Earth. Sadly, some will not…however, I was blessed with the most wonderful parents. They care for me and love me like any other parents. Though I have noticed that, in my eyes, my parents are very special.

Very rarely would I say my parents and I fight. When we do, it is about silly things such as not doing the laundry or walking the dog. Only a few times were our arguments blown out of proportion. That was only because I was being a snotty teenager thinking that I run this world. But I have also seen that with every fight that we have had, they are the ones to apologize. Never me, nor my sister. That is one of the reasons why I can never compete with them. Why are they the ones to apologize and not me? I don’t know. Maybe it is because I am selfish, or maybe it is because I never noticed what the main part of our arguments were. But this is a letter to my parents saying I am sorry.

I am sorry for the idiocy of our arguments. I am sorry for my selfishness. I am sorry for not getting along with my sister all the time. I am sorry that I curse like a sailor. And most of all I am sorry I do not say I love you all the time like I should.

Now you may think, “Nat, what are you talking about? You say I love you to me all the time!” and my reply to that is I never say it at the right time; when you really need to hear it. I say I love you when I am about to go to sleep or when you give me something I want or when I want to get on your good side. But I never actually said it to you randomly like every child should. So here it is:

I love you for putting up with all my crappy boyfriends and fake friends over the years. I love you for going to every orchestra concert even though we sucked. I love you for staying up with me all night when my anxiety was really bad and texting me through a very stressful day at work with positive thinking. I love you for staying at all my swim meets, even my bad ones, and sitting in a very humid natatorium. I love you because you are the best parents anyone could ever asked for.

Here is me saying thank you for everything you have done, everything you gave up, every lesson you gave me (even the smallest lesson, such as how to paint a wall or proofread my papers). I love you for sticking together all these years, for having all girls and for giving us a wonderful puppy.

You never judged me, even when I went through my goth phase. You never hated me. You never discouraged me. And most of all you said I love you and thank you to all my stupid gifts that I got you.

To all new parents out there that think you cannot be good mothers and fathers: you will be and you are. No matter what anyone says! To all the kids who have parents that abandoned you and said terrible things to you: do not listen to them! There are parents out here that are rooting for you to be the best you can be. It is probably your friend’s mom and dad, or your aunts and uncles, or maybe even your grandparents.

This is a letter to not only my mom and dad but to all of the kids and new/single/young parents. I have only a few words for you:

You can do it!