Hi, baby.

I wanted to take a minute to thank you.

For some reason, a reason I am sure you know, and one I will someday understand – when I write to you, when I talk to you, when I pray to you, when I dream of you – I know that you hear me, you feel me, you see me, and in every sense but a physical one, you are with me.

So today, in the most pure way I know how, with my words, I am telling you how grateful I am for you.

These last eighteen months without you have been impossible. I have been lost without you. But through the tears and heartache, I am learning to live. And I know that it is you who is showing me how.

I know it is you who gives me the strength to find my true spirit and my most honest self and be the person you are proud to call Mom. I know in the deepest darkness when I feel all is lost, it is you who shows me light. I know when I fall and feel too heavy to stand, it is you who pulls me to my feet. And I know, that when the days drag on and I feel I have no fight left, it is you who shows me what it feels like to win again.

And I will win again. I will know success, in whatever form it takes, because I am your mom and you are my son. Because of you, I will live happy, and good things will find me. Good things find good people, and I know if I keep believing in that, and I keep believing in you, good things will find me.

Good things are abundant in my life already, because of you. Because you taught me to treasure every moment, every person, every opportunity. I will treasure it all because I know true love, and true gratefulness, because I have you. Thank you, baby. I owe it all to you.