“A mother is not a person to lean on but a person to make leaning unnecessary.” -Dorothy Canfield Fisher

Many times I have felt motivated to write to my mother and tell her all the things I have tucked away in my heart in regards to my love for her.
Days turn in to months, opportunities to sit and begin writing turn in to bittersweet busyness, and all the while the constant admiration I wish to express to her remains waiting to be shared.

This Mother’s Day, I have quieted the chatter of my mind and the clanging of the rest of the world in order to finally let my mother know exactly how much I love and admire her.
Although I have made many mistakes in the past which have caused her to be disappointed in me, I continually pray that my mom is aware of the woman I have become because of those mistakes and that she is proud of the woman I am today.

“I thank God for my handicaps, for, through them, I have found myself, my work, and my God.” -Helen Keller

“Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

Mom,
Thank you for all of the things, both privately and publicly, that you have suffered because of me.
Thank you for being the strong woman you are and for not allowing the things that I put you though to break your beautiful spirit.
My mess of a past has become my Message of hope to other families broken by the selfishness of addiction and that message, this message, has reached 130 counties in my attempts to help them avoid the heartache I caused you and our family myself.

“A child’s hand in yours-what tenderness it arouses, what power it conjures. You are instantly the very touchstone of wisdom and strength.” -Marjorie Holmes

“A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives, wives their husbands. But a mother’s love endures through all; in good repute, in bad repute, in the face of the world’s condemnation, a mother still loves on, and still hopes that her child may turn from his evil ways, and repent; still she remembers the infant smiles that once filled her bosom with rapture, the merry laugh, the joyful shout of his childhood, the opening promise of his youth; and she can never be brought to think him all unworthy.” -Washington Irving

You are a leader; You envelope all of what I could possibly hope to become as a woman. As a mother, you have fearlessly done and continue to do whatever it takes to ensure the very best for your daughters and their future.

You are fierce, but you are kind.
You are beautiful, but you are not a fool.
You are helpful, but you do not enable.
You are unyielding, but you are human.
You stand tall in the face of chaos, but you do not welcome a mess.
You are smarter than any woman I know, but your heart rules your world.

“Of course if you like your kids, if you love them from the moment they begin, you yourself begin all over again, in them, with them, and so there is something more to the world again.” -William Saroyan

Nana gave the world the greatest gift when she had you; You are very precious to me.
She instilled in you the values and the characteristics which have made you the exemplary woman and mother you are and you continue to do the same in the raising of your own girls!

“A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.” -Tenneva Jordan

I love you very much and no matter how bratty I am, how long it sometimes takes me to say it, you are my hero.
Happy Mothers Day and THANK YOU FOR BEING MY MOM.