The Woman They Raised

Forward This to Your Mom

Her discipline, her drive—

the way she cares, the way she loves…

she had to learn that from somewhere.

I see her for who she is.

No, she’s not perfect—

but in my eyes, she’s the closest thing to perfection I’ve seen in a long time.

She’s better than perfect.

She’s real.

She is who she is because of her upbringing,

her surroundings,

the love she was given

and the love she witnessed.

I see her, and I see someone beautiful—

captivating, angelic…

someone real.

And I can only promise to treat her with tenderness and care.

To treat her heart like my own.

To love and protect,

to show up and support,

to be for her what I hope she can be for me.

Because with her, I don’t want to just move through life—

I want to live.

I want to let the walls down

and surrender to everything life can be.

I want to hold her up

and let every exhale be relief,

every inhale feel like a fresh start.

I want to breathe life and love into her world,

to bring light to every dark and grey place,

to make life feel warm… lighter.

To be someone who makes the bad feel less heavy,

and the good feel like everything.

I want to see her depth,

understand her depth,

and never walk away from it.

I promise I’ll always be there.

I promise I’ll always love her.

I promise I won’t give up—

because giving up means losing sight of the future… our future.

And that’s something I’ve never been more certain about.