mom is just another word for love.

Momma,

Happy Mother's Day. You've been having Mother's Days for a quarter of a century. (Sorry, did that make you feel old? :P) Thank you for everything you have done for me, ma. You have shaped me into the woman I am today and I would be absolutely nowhere without the strength and bravery and truly unconditional LOVE you have shown me throughout the years. 

Do you remember your first Mother's Day, 26 days after I was born? I was still in the hospital fighting for my life and you drove almost an hour every day to visit me. To make sure I was okay. To make sure I wasn't alone. Even in my infancy when I'm sure your world was rocked upside down and everything felt more backwards than ever, you showed me what it means to be strong. To have a purpose. To fight for something bigger than yourself. 

Do you remember when I was in high school, and we were fighting our demons side by side? I think we taught each other the lessons we needed to learn on bravery. Me speaking up about mine may have influenced you to do the same about yours (I'll never know for sure), but then your actions after—the fighting back, the take charge war cry of happiness vs. fear—they inspired me to speak up even louder. 

Do you remember the day I came home crying after newspaper, part paralyzed by fear and anxiety and part furious because Cody was still participating in a high school club after he graduated? Do you remember going into Mama Bear mode? You turned to me and said, "I need you to go look up the number to the high school. I'm making a few phone calls." 

I cannot thank you enough for those phone calls, mom. Even though we were ultimately let down (and I'M STILL BITTER about it 8 years later), you showed me the importance of having passion and standing up for the things you believe in. 

I have taken all of these lessons, the big ones as well as the little ones, and created a life that I am proud of living. I hope one day I will be able to express how much I love you and just how much you mean to me. I hope one day I will be able to give you the world. But until that day comes, I will write you letters on Mother's Day. You done good, momma. 

I love you. xo

(PS—MOM, what the hell are these glasses?!)