Dear Mom, Thank you for…

Dear Mom,

Thank you for giving birth to six children and not stopping at five (I wouldn’t have made the cut).

Thank you for loving each of us as if we were your only child.

Thank you for always making room for more when we brought friends home.

Thank you for making our friends feel like family.

Thank you for taking us to church every time the doors opened, even when we didn’t want to go.

Thank you for raising us to believe in something greater than ourselves.

Thank you for living your faith.

Thank you for being faithful to Dad when he went off to war and for praying with us every day for his safe return.

Thank you for showing us that God does answer prayer.

Thank you for moving our family six times in seven years after Dad came home from Vietnam and for pulling it off with such grace.

Thank you for making sure that, despite all the moves, we always had more than a house, we had a home.

Thank you for helping me move fifteen times since high school! 

Thank you for sleeping with me overnight in the car so I was first in line to switch dorms at UGA.

Thank you for driving with me through the night to get to my new job in Augusta.

Thank you for being game enough to let me ditch the traffic and stop at that run-down motel on our way home from Ocean City.

Thank you for always being flexible.

Thank you for dropping everything and driving to Birmingham at a moment’s notice to help me care for my sick child.

Thank you for putting your life on hold and moving in with us when I had to return to work.

Thank you for the support and courage you gave me when Daniel fought his first brain tumor. Thank you for doing the same now.

Thank you for taking such good care of Dad during his years-long struggle with Alzheimer’s.

Thank you for keeping your wedding vows, “‘Til death do us part.”

Thank you for living your love.

Thank you, Mom, for a lifetime of birthday parties and Christmas celebrations, family vacations and traditions.

Thank you for Valentine’s Days and Easters that never passed without a card or gift to say, “I love you.”

Thank you for opening your home, and your heart, to every stray animal I picked up through the years.

Thank you for taking care of them when I couldn’t and for crying with me at their gravesides.

Thank you for always being willing to take detours, hunt waterfalls and chase rainbows with me.

Thank you, Mom, for all the hugs, kisses, good wishes and praise you’ve heaped on me through the years.

Thank you for correcting me when I am wrong.

Thank you for being the champion in my life that every kid deserves.

Thank you for our long walks every night and our long talks.

Thank you for listening.

Thank you for caring.

Thank you for loving me unconditionally.

Thank you, Mom.

I Love You,

Joy