A Thank you note to my Mom

Mom

I love you

I don’t want to say goodbye, because I don’t believe it is goodbye.

I know that I will feel you in the breeze and see you in every flower

I will think of you always

But especially when I hear one of your favorite musicians

Watch one of your favorite actors

 hear anything political

find a treasure in a thrift store

laugh with my sisters

I also want you to keep my kids in line

Give them a push and guide them from the other side

On that note, I wanted to say thank you

Thank you for nursing me through the chicken pox

Thank you for letting me take ballet

Thank you for the beef stew and the fish sticks

Thank you for having the strength to leave a harmful marriage

Thank you for working a multitude of shitty jobs to support our family

Thank you for letting me dance ballet in downtown Buffalo

Thank you for making it so I could participate in the Nutcracker

Thank you for buying me the really expensive sheiseido face cream that I needed

Thank you for giving me my own room…twice actually

Thank you for building me my own room

Thank you for letting me come back home to live three times

Thank you for letting me visit my friend in Ecuador when I was only 15

Thank you for giving me my own phone

Thank you for letting me have sleepovers

Thank you for being a mother to Amy

Thank you for throwing me a wedding and a baby shower

Thank you for letting me run the Kirk Cameron Club and the 3 sexies

Thank you for buying me a ghetto blaster

Thank you for taking us to Lake Shannon to learn how to camp in the rain

Thank you for trusting me

Thank you for letting me and Tiney “go exploring”

Thank you for dressing me the same as Justine, even though I hated it at the time

Thank you for putting up with my Grandma O and her bullshit

Thank you for not judging my friends

Thank you for Fluffy

Thank you for every item you ever bought, created, or gave with my children in mind

Thank you for building and designing the most beautiful Victorian doll house ever

Thank you for coming with me to New Orleans

Thank you for coming with us to Salem and Boston

Thank you for restoring my childhood doll house for Eva

Thank you for letting me watch Flashdance and Footloose

Thank you for researching our ancestry
Thank you for taking me to the library

Thank you for sharing your rock collection with Dylan

Thank you for accepting my friend in the middle of the night that ran away from her prison

Thank you for keeping me away from Gary O

Thank you for understanding my friendship with Sandy

Thank you for having a kind heart and a listening ear with her mother

Thank you for letting me go to AC/DC when I was only 14

Thank you for all the care packages you sent me in Spain

Thank you for letting me get a job at Panes at 15

Thank you for putting us under the table at Aunt Linda’s house so we didn’t get stepped on

Thank you for believing I had the flu, all those times

Thank you for caring for Steve’s parents

Thank you for taking care of Steve

Thank you for taking care of Grandma for all those years

Thank you for letting us have Spanky

Thank you for teaching me how to draw

Thank you for being my Sunday school teacher

Thank you for teaching me how to drive

I owe you my strength

I get it from you because you have persevered through everything

Your generosity and thoughtfulness you have passed on to Justine

Jenna gets her independence, feistiness, assertiveness, and stubbornness from you

I see you in Jenna

Mom Vila.  Putting up walls, Jenna climbs them

You have raised three intelligent, independent women

You are leaving behind a legacy

Thank you Mom

You are an amazing woman

There are no periods at the ends of these sentences because that would signify the end

This is not the end; only a new chapter to explore