Dear Mom,

 

When I was younger, people used to ask me who my best friend was I would constantly say you. My friends would laugh a little and say “your mom can’t be your best friend.” At least eleven years later, my answer still has not changed.

 

The amount of times all three of your kids have made fun of you for not having a job is something that has always bothered you. But I know now that when you said a mom is a full time job you 100% meant it. Being a mom meant that you attended every play, every dance performance, every doctors’ appointment, and more. You even took it one step further and volunteered for positions in our school lives ranging from making tickets for plays to volunteering to help out at school events. 

 

When I was six and I played on the girls’ soccer team I would nag at you for how involved you were with my life at school. Being room mom was always something I complained about. I was even embarrassed that you used to walk into school with me or work at the booster club during all my cheerleading games. I know now, that every one of those gestures was not because you wanted to irritate me and humiliate me, but instead you just wanted to show how much you cared about me. 

 

You and I have fought more than I have fought with anyone else. There are countless times where I have slammed doors in your face and said outrageous words such as “I hate you I never want to see you again.” I know that every time I made a comment like that it broke your heart. However, you know as well as I do that I never meant any of it. After every silly fight and days of not speaking, it only made you and I closer. 

 

Even though we can hate each other at times, you have been my number one supporter. Fighting with dad to attend all the big events and performances I was in when he had work in Lagos was something that was always important to you. I can’t even express in words how much that meant to me as you knew how much I hated it when he missed out. 

 

To this day, I still act like a little girl around you. I can’t even thank you enough for sitting in my bed with me and hugging me whether I’m laughing or crying. For holding me every time I came home from school with tears in my eyes complaining about something that happened that day. For every time you have picked up your phone at 4am in London to hear me cry about my bad day at university or even to ask a stupid question such as what our iTunes password is. For supporting me the past four years when I drove you crazy insisting I needed to change from one school to the next. For taking me to therapy appointments and spending an hour waiting outside because I was way too scared to go there alone.  You have always been there no matter what the circumstances. 

 

I’m almost twenty, mom, and you are still my best friend. Every day I wake up and look forward to talking on the phone with you and trading sassy remarks, sad stories, funny jokes, and our family drama. As much judgment I get for telling you every detail of my life, I would never have it any other way. I know I can never put into words how much you actually mean to me, but rather than giving you flowers this year, I wanted to try my best. Happy Mother’s Day, I love you. 

 

Love you forever,

Krsana

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