For My Mother - A Decently Belated Thank You

For a petite 5’1” you’ve towered over me in many ways. Thank you for your ever present comfort and ability to sense when something is wrong and the correct time to bring it up. Thanks for driving that ugly mini van and for working from home until I was ten. Thanks for bandaging scraped knees, broken hearts, and worn toys. Thank you for the goodnight kisses, the chocolate chip cookies, and the endless patience. Thank you for holding my hand when you walked me to kindergarten. Thank you for all the smashed spiders, iced bee stings, and for not telling Dad about my less visible tattoos. I’m thankful that even though you are much smaller than I am you can still give me really big bear hugs when I’ve had a long day. Thank you for helping me to see the lesson in my mistakes and never saying “I told you so”. Thank you for the trust. Thank you for the unconditional love. Thank you for being an ever present force in my life no matter where I am.