Dear Mom, Thank You

This is 100% dedicated to my mom Tara Davis: But written for every mom who needs a Thank you, You are amazing!

Dear Mom,

Thank You.

I am simply writing to you, to thank you. I know that growing up I didn’t realize all that you did for me. I mean I saw it, like the time that you didn’t eat so we could afford a happy meal or the days you sacrificed sleep to make sure we were safe. But honestly most of the time I forgot or didn’t even appreciate all you did.

But now that I’m a mother I’m in awe of how much you gave up for my brothers and me. I realize you gave up sleep, food, time, energy, and new experiences – all because you loved us. Now, I see how hard you worked, how much you gave, and how much you really loved us.

I wish that I had appreciated it more when I was younger. But, as I’ve learned with my own kids, I was a kid and so often didn’t see (or know) all that you did for me.

I wish I would have told you that it was the best dinner ever or that I was thankful for all the time you worked so that I could be able to do what I thought was free but now know really was not. Thank you for the hundred’s and thousand’s of miles you drove for me to pursue my passions while you put yours on the back burner.

Mom, you inspire me. You’ve inspired me to write words to moms letting others know that even if their kids complain about dinner loudly – like I used to – that it isn’t a reflection on you as a mother. That when kids disobey, complain, talk back, don’t clean their rooms, come home late, yell I hate you, refuse to go to bed, cry, and stomp around like they run the place; doesn’t mean that they don’t love their mothers. Because the truth is, I did all of that plus some and I love you more than words could say.

You inspire me to be a better mom.

So as I sit here and realize I need me time. I need to go to the gym, I WANT to go to the gym. I want to finish my coffee for the first time in 2 years. I want to do the dishes without 4,000 distractions. I want to go to the bathroom without setting up a full snack bar in the highchair to have a minute of privacy. I want to thank you even more for all of the times you needed “me” time but instead made it about me.

I am tired this week, actually more like exhausted. And as I sit on the couch overwhelmed with the piles of toys, dirty floors, leaking bathroom, piles of dishes, and drowning in laundry, all I can think about is you. How many times you wanted to cry or fall apart. How many times you stayed up late cleaning. How many times you didn’t know how you were going to do it again tomorrow. Thank you, mom. You are my hero.

I love you.