For My Beautiful Mother, On Her Birthday

Mom,

Remember when…

I really wanted to take piano lessons, but we couldn’t afford them – you cleaned the teachers’ house so I could follow my passion.

I loved going to a Christian school and loved the friends that I had made – you took up full-time teaching so I could stay at the school.

I called you countless times from college, on the verge of tears because I had no idea how I could finish everything on time – you stayed on the phone with me to calm me down and figured out a strategy to keep me sane.

I played soccer in the freezing cold – you bundled up, forgot about the weather, and cheered me on anyways.

I didn’t want to campaign, but wanted the position – you helped me come up with slogans and design my hand-outs even though you had other things to do.

…

Mom, your consistent sacrifices for me have been made apparent. Time and again, you have given up your own time, comfort, goals, and more to demonstrate your love for me. I know that I don’t always thank you for your sacrifices or always recognize that you have made them. But I want you to know that I do notice them and that I am realizing the beauty of these sacrifices. I read once that the beauty of love was in the sacrifice. “There is in the universe a higher kind of beauty. It is the beauty of sacrifice, of giving up for others… The beauty of sacrifice is the final word in beauty.”* Mom, you are beautiful; your sacrifices have convinced me of this. On your birthday, I would just like to thank you for setting aside so much time and energy to spend with me. I LOVE YOU!

Sincerely,
Elizabeth

P.S. Happy Birthday!

*Laubach, Frank C. "Letters by a Modern Mystic"