Thank You For the Good Years, Mom

Dearest mom,

I have always and will always love you, but we can’t stay in our relationship. After years of trying to blend our differences, it’s time to bid farewell.

My heart has come to this difficult resolution now that I’m loving a daughter of my own. I want my daughter to view healthy relationships as she grows up, and it breaks my heart that our relationship will never be there.

Rather than explaining all the ways our relationship has gone wrong, I’d like to say thank you for everything in our relationship that went right. I wish my daughter could have seen us in these moments.

Thank you for signing me out of school every day for recess in fourth grade during a time that was difficult for me. We sat in the car, blared the radio to Kelly Clarkson, and ate the snack you packed for us until the recess bell rang. Those days are some of my fondest memories with you.

Thank you for swinging with me at the park and singing at the top of our lungs as we raced to see who could get the highest.

Thank you for forgiving me when I snuck into your closet and stole your favorite sweater that I spilled paint on. I wore that sweater with such pride, and the look in your eyes when I showed it to you with the paint on it is something I will never forget. You showed me that material items are far less important than teaching a lesson of forgiveness.

Thank you for supporting my crazy hair phase. Yes, I did want that permed hair that was never properly cared for. Yes, I would do it all over again because you always told me it looked beautiful and that was all I needed.

Thank you for giving me your mom’s wedding band when I was 10 years old. I felt so special to wear it and show it off to my friends. Sorry that I lost it a week after you gave it to me. I guess it may have been a bit too big for my tiny fingers.

Thank you for staying up with me those nights I didn’t feel well. I would tap you on the shoulder and you’d get up with me and rub my back or brush my hair until I fell asleep. I didn’t realize how hard those sleepless nights were for you until now.

Thank you for crying with me during my first break up in high school. The boy meant so little in the grand scheme of my life, but your comfort meant everything.

Thank you for listening to my endless stories and giving me your genuine advice. I’m sorry that I didn’t always follow it. It was more appreciated than my teenage self would have allowed you to know.

Ultimately, mom, thank you for all the good years that we had in our relationship.

I have always looked up to you and wanted to be a mother someday like you. Now I get to be a mother and I’m sorry that you will not get to watch me in this stage of my life. I’m sorry that my daughter will not know her grandmother. I will always speak of you highly to her and explain that sometimes two people must take separate paths in life no matter how much it breaks their hearts.

I do wish you all the best, mom, and thank you for the good years.

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