Dear Mom

It’s Mother’s Day and since you told me not to buy you anything, your gift is this post.

Thank you for letting us make chocolate chip cookies even when you knew he would be mad if he caught us.

Thank you for laughing when she dropped the egg on the floor instead of in the bowl.

Thank you for every spoonful of cod liver oil you forced into my mouth on my way out to the bus.

Thank you for not taking aspirin and for eating liver when you were pregnant for me.

Thank you for letting me have a pet mouse.

Thank you for making him talk.

Thank you for the Hess trucks and my Geronimo doll, and all those horses.

Thank you for using every dime of child support on us, and especially for buying Welch’s grape juice whenever the check came.

Thank you for being brave and leaving him.

Thank you for working three jobs to take care of us.

Thank you for never complaining about how poor we were and always putting us first.

Thank you for letting me run wild in the woods and along the creek all day long.

Thank you for only grounding me once.

Thank you for letting me go see Aerosmith while I was grounded.

Thank you for putting up with hours on end of my blaring rock music.

Thank you for reading America’s Best Loved Poems to me every morning before school.

Thank you for teaching me to drive, and then letting me take your car for days at a time.

Thank you for buying me that 1969 Mustang with your divorce settlement money.

Thank you for being proud of my school work.

Thank you for helping me apply for college.

Thank you for never yelling at me for what was already done and couldn’t be changed.

Thank you for loving me through my hard choices.

Thank you for putting up with those late night drunken, tearful phone calls.

Thank you for showing me that work is good no matter what the job is.

Thank you for always finding my shoes.

Thank you for my beautiful wedding and baby showers.

Thank you for always knowing how to spell the word.

Thank you for showing me how to eat healthy.

Thank you for treating my step-daughter as if she were my own.

Thank you for never interfering with my love for my father.

Thank you for babying me when I was sick.

Thank you for taking me to see Heart.

Thank you for only freaking out a little bit when I got my first tattoo.

Thank you for our trip to the Massachusetts’ coast and to Salem.

Thank you for babysitting my firstborn so that he wouldn’t have to go to daycare.

Thank you for loving my husband and always giving me the best marital advice.

Thank you for the mayonnaise cake recipe.

Thank you for always throwing something in your grocery shopping cart for me.

Thank you for keeping my secrets.

Thank you for the stories you told, and for singing, “Yes we have no bananas” off key.

Thank you for the weather reports.

Thank you for all those bottles of Boone’s Farm Tickle Pink.

Thank you for living in my house and caring for our three kids while we were off adopting two more.

Thank you for seeing my girls for who they are.

Thank you for the irises, peonies and phlox that have grown in my gardens for twenty years.

Thank you for the love of tea.

Thank you for all the handmade Christmas gifts you bring for the children to give their teachers.

Thank you for waking me up in the middle of the night to see the Northern Lights.

Thank you for saving my horribly ugly art projects from forever ago.

Thank you for letting me wear my Indian dress to school.

Thank you for calling me just to chat.

Thank you for always loving me so much that I could never doubt it.

This list is not all inclusive, in fact it really should be endless. Happy Mother’s Day mom. I love you.