Dear Mom,
I know being a lenient parent has not always been easy. I know growing up in a small conservative town meant that you faced day to day judgment from the other parents for not giving me a curfew or for letting me go out in “those” shorts. I know that sometimes you wonder if there are things you should have done differently but, I am here to thank you for raising me to be the best possible adult I could be and trusting me to learn from my mistakes.
Thank you for always trusting me to make the tough decisions. I have grown so much not just as a person but also as the person that I truly chose to be. You never pressured me to take certain classes or pursue specific talents. You let me choose exactly who I wanted to be. You let me decide what my priorities were. I was never pushed to be team captain, top scholar, or outstanding musician. You gave me advice when I asked for it but never tried to sway my decisions. The only thing you ever pushed me to be was my best and because of that I have more pride in the fact I got to University because I did it by myself for myself.
Thank you for allowing me to be an open book. You knew that the world would punish me itself and that as a teenager the best thing you could do was to be a listening ear and a wise spout of advice whenever I asked for it. Because you were lenient and I had little fear of being punished I knew I could come to you in times of trouble whether it be boys, grades, or girl drama (and trust me there was plenty of all 3). I knew you trusted me and you knew you raised a good kid. Having this open line of communication meant that any time something went wrong the first person I called to talk about it was my mom. You definitely had your opinions and you would advise me on what was morally and biblically right but, you let the universe make full circle and hit me for my mistakes and because of that I learned all the lessons I needed for adulthood.
Finally, Thank you for never sheltering me from the real world. You never kept me from watching certain movies or listening to certain music. Instead when something was “inappropriate” you would explain to me what it is and why it exists and then allow me to form my own opinion. You knew that no matter how hard you tried there would be a billboard, a kid at school, or a song on the radio that would introduce sex, drugs, and alcohol to me, and you decided you would rather introduce me to it first. I never had a warped view of the world. I grew up knowing these things existed and the potential hazards. You never had to keep me from going to parties because I was able to go and decide on my own that party life wasn’t for me. You never had to keep me from sleeping around because I had already decided morally that wasn’t a lifestyle I desired. Yet, growing up knowing about the “horrors” of the real world and understanding them allowed me to understand people whose views and lifestyles were different than mine and befriend them. This allowed me to form my own morals and learn to accept and tolerate others. You letting me learn about the world as the lessons came to me allowed me to become the well-rounded accepting adult I am today.
I am so proud to call you my mother. While you raised me different than a lot of people in our small town I still grew up to be a well-rounded adult. You let me make all my own choices and learn about the dark parts of life for myself and because of that I never felt the need to go out and explore alcohol and drugs. You let me decide on my own whether I wanted to focus on music, sports, or my grades, or none of the above and yet, I still became a student at The University of Texas at San Antonio. You never pushed your views and opinions on me and because of that I still call you once a day and tell you everything that is happening in my life. Thank you for allowing me to grow up becoming my own person and who I chose to be.
I love you mom,
Emily