Good moms are harder to find than you might think. Maybe good daughters are hard to find too. Luckily for me, my mom had a great mom and because of that, she’s been a phenomenal one to me. Moms (and dads) are on the front lines of raising the strong independent women of the future. As we grow up, we realize we need our moms for fewer things. I don’t need my mom to come to the doctor’s office with me or to drive me long distances. That’s a sad realization for both parties. But it means they’re doing something right. To be independent is an intoxicating and empowering feeling. It’s one of the greatest gifts a parent can give to a child.
I don’t remember the exact time in my life that my mom and I got so close, but since I’ve gone away to school I’ve definitely been able to appreciate all my parents have done for me on a broader scale. I think a lot of our closeness stems from me not being afraid to tell my mom anything. That was definitely different in high school, but as I’ve grown older I think my mom has realized that she will hear more about my life if I’m not necessarily afraid of being disciplined. That’s a good strategy to parent a child in college, whom, in all reality, you have very little control over. Not that I ever do anything that bad. I have enough respect for both of my parents to want to keep that open line of communication, and if I’ve done something I really don’t want them to know about, I know it’s something I shouldn’t ever do again. Often, I’ll be telling an anecdote about a conversation with my mom to one of my friends and they’ll say “You actually tell your mom that?!” I do. I tell my mom more than I probably should. I’m an open book, even more so with the people I love. And if I do have secrets from her, they’re not secrets for long.
As I previously mentioned, I don’t need my mom to hold my hand and help me be an adult as much anymore, but I do need her for different things. I need her to play board games with me incessantly and to watch movies with me and to let me vent to her on the phone at least four times a week. I need her to watch the same Netflix shows as me so we can talk about them. I need her to share my love of river otters and visit them with me. I need her to tell me stories about family members who have passed that I never got the chance to meet. I need her to sing songs from the Annie soundtrack with me in the car. And I still need her to make me food, because I’m terrible at that.
My mom instilled in me a love of reading, hot tea, baths, a good vocabulary, and a pretty good taste in music, among many other things. She doesn’t get annoyed when I accidentally tell her the same story more than once. She doesn’t think I’m too psycho when I hysterically cry at movies from my childhood. So for all this and more, thanks Mom! I know that other people aren’t as lucky and I just want the record to show that I realize just how lucky I am.