Dear Mom,

            It’s been a long and eventful nineteen years of you being stuck around me. It all began on the way to the hospital when you were in labor. Dad was driving you to the hospital and in the middle of the highway you get a flat tire. After being stranded on the side of the highway until tire was fixed, while I was obviously causing you excruciating pain (which I apologize for), you eventually got to the hospital. You got checked into the room and before the anesthesiologist could even give you an epidural, I was born. And let me just say I caused you all this pain BEFORE I was even born.

            So, years pass and boy I was a pain as a young kid. As a baby I had jaundice and required constant care. As a toddler I refused to talk, and you needed to hire a speech therapist to come to our house once a week to see me. The therapist having tea parties with me would be the only time I would say something, besides “nannies” if I wanted bananas or “wa” if I wanted apples. I was fussy, whiny, and always cried for no reason. Once again, I apologize for all this.

            The older I got, the less of a pain I became. Of course, I had my teenage years, as every girl does. But even through all those fights, arguments, and eye-rolling conversations, you still managed to be the one person who is never mad at me and the one person who is full of advice, and I don’t think I have ever truly thanked you enough for that. Thank you for being there through all my friend-breakups, thank you for being there through all my school problems, and thank you for being there for just about everything.

Love,

Grace