My Dearest Mom,

It's been a hard few years, but I've been pushing through just like you always taught me to. Mother's Day is just another day for me, because it is not possible for me to love or appreciate you anymore than I already do. When it gets to be this time of year, however, there are so many thoughts that race through my mind and there is only one person who I could talk to that always understands--you.

Today, at age nineteen, I look back on all you taught me as I

Hey Mom, remember a few years ago when we were driving through those old slums in India, and some beggars started tapping on our car windows for money? For me, it was so uncomfortable! It was saddening to see them so desperate and helpless in those poor dirty roads. I’m so sorry to admit to you Mom that the thought going through my head at the time was, “I hope we get out of here as soon as possible!”

I’m sorry because right as I thought that, you delved into your purse and pulled o

My mother… Where should I begin? That woman I came out of. That lovable being I imprinted on in my very first moments of life. The body I clung to for dear life to survive my infancy. The one I cuddled up to in bed at night, whose stomach I pressed my back to in an effort to hide from the ghosts who surely lingered near the open bedroom door—and there were ghosts, back then. The caring figure that packed my lunch every day and drove me down the winding driveway to the bus in the snow. The one