An open letter to the two best parents I could ever ask for:
Dear Mom and Dad,
After four years and a few hundred credits now, I’m finally having the opportunity to talk about what I want to. Most people are all about the top 5 things going on right now, but as I get ready to move on with my life, I’m starting to realize how lucky I really have been to have parents like you.
As I get ready to move to a new place, start a new chapter in my life, I am somehow not nervous. It reminds me of when we use to tag along on the trips overseas and you would tell us to go do something outside in a place we had never been to. Something that simple. We would get up, say let’s go and start walking in a random direction not a bit of fear in our eyes. Nothing to be nervous of, nothing to be afraid of, just another adventure. How could you ever know something like that would be used years later to calm myself down about growing up. Thank you for the peacefulness.
Then time after time, those little adventures turned into challenges. Once it was getting lost, once it was stumbling into the wrong neighborhood, eating the wrong type of food, but the adventure kept going on, and the lessons just kept adding up. Each challenge pushed me a little harder than before, and before you knew it I was making mistakes for myself and overcoming everything that got in my way. Thank you for giving me that courage.
One of the greatest traits you’ve instilled in me was to always shoot for bigger dreams and to walk the edge of the absolute unknown. Shooting to work or get an internship for that crazy company, furthering my education, traveling to a random country, or even just telling me I should try to pursue the next best thing, really what was I thinking. I had no business going up against some of those other kids from more prestigious schools, but man did I prove them wrong, right? Better yet, how did you know that would be the best path for me? It makes no sense. It’s like you know five steps ahead of me, and encouraged me to do whatever knowing the end result of either the good or bad option. Thank you for believing.
For letting me chose my own path I still can’t even begin to describe the feeling. I never knew what I wanted, and there was always an easy way, but it seemed like time after time I always chose the hard one. To say it’s been an eye opener is an understatement. I have messed up more than most adults, but boy have I been able to learn. Through all the yelling matches and phone calls that would end with us hanging up on each other, you were still there to support me through it all. In the end what can I really say other than what the hell was I thinking. Thank you for not giving up.
Thank you for everything. I don’t know how you knew this craziness would work out, but you were right… you’ve always been right. I’ve written this about ten times now with different things every time, but it’s amazing how much you’ve been able to teach me. We now live over a thousand miles apart, yet you still seem to be the biggest factor in my life. From the manners you taught me as a little kid asking to borrow a toy, or emphasizing the word please, it’s amazing how far something like that could go. I couldn’t be half the man I am today without that attitude you taught me. Thank you for teaching me to be a decent human being.
Moving forward with my life the only thing I can wish and pray for time after time, is the hope that I can be close to the parents you have been. The way you raised me, the lessons you taught me, the freedoms you gave me, and the love you showed me. It’s amazing that just a few things can go such a long way, but they’re really what makes you who you are… my parents.
I love you and will see you in a few weeks.
