Hey Mom,

I would have liked to say:
Thank you for my excellent upbringing.
Thank you for always letting your children have a say in the consequences of our actions.
Thank you for always listening.
Thank you for always having my back.
Thank you for teaching me to question everything.
Thank you for making me look up the answer to my every question in the encyclopedia.
Thank you for raising us without television.
Thank you for your faith.
Thank you for my early love of Elvis and everything that has lead to.
Thank you for putting up with my petulant behavior.
Thank you for not letting on about all the things I didn’t know you knew.
Thank you for letting me have a ‘73 big block Charger for my first vehicle.
Thank you for making me earn my own pocket money at the age of twelve.
Thank you for letting me play my records as loud as I could in our little house.
Thank you for understanding when I flunked out of college.
Thank you for being by my side as I received my Master’s degree.
Thank you for my brothers, here and gone.
Thank you for your 22 years of service to our community of suicide survivors.
Thank you for showing me grace in grief. I’m sorry I did not show you any.
Thank you for showing me what 49 years of marriage can be.

Thank you for everything you did for my children. All success in their lives will stem in great part from your unending support of them and the confidence you instilled in them.

Thank you for your lifetime of sacrifices so that I have been able to reap the life you desired for me.

G, age 46