Dear Mom,
You're awesome. You've always been my role model and friend. I can talk to you about anything and you give me the advice that I'm too afraid to give myself. Thank you.
To be honest, I always get a little anxious in the weeks leading up to Mother's Day. Homemade cards and poorly cooked meals aren't as impressive as they were when I was a kid. There are so many nice things I want to do and say, but I just don't know how. One of my friends put my feelings perfectly into words: "How do you love your mother back?"
How do you repay her for giving you life? For going through hours of labor and getting no sleep and cleaning up your messes and brushing your hair even when you don't want it brushed and dealing with your tantrums and getting you dressed and taking care of you when you're sick and buying you stupid toys that you love but she doesn't understand and listening to your favorite music on repeat for six hour car rides and planning birthday parties and helping you with your homework and listening to you practice an instrument that sounds like a dying cat and talking about boys and driving you to the mall and coming to your volleyball games and lending you her jewelry and letting you drive yourself to school and helping you pack your stuff in a way that you will never be able to duplicate and waiting for you to call her on the weekends because she knows your independence is important to you and coming to your concerts and listening patiently while you freak out about finding a job or a place to live and--?
How do you return all that love in one day?
It's impossible. I could spend my whole life showering my mom with gifts and it still wouldn't be enough. The love a mother gives is selfless and unconditional, and it's meant to be passed on. Someday I will love someone the way my mom loves me. Then that person will love someone else the way I love them. That love goes back throughout history and will last well into the future. It binds us together.
I hope you know, mom, that I am always grateful for your love and support. I'm so glad we've had such a close relationship. It's been so fun to continue to get to know and understand you as I've grown older. Thanks for always knowing and understanding me.
Lots of love,
Liz
