upon my 28th year

As a new mom, I'm feeling quite reflective on my birthday. I've always thought of it as my special day as I think we're sort of trained to do when we're young.

Now, when I think about my birth-day I'm thinking about my parents and what they experienced 28 years ago today. I feel like we should be celebrating them:

Thank you mom for giving me life when at 19 years old, others were telling you to think of yourself.

Thank you dad for  sticking around when it would have been easier to leave.

Thanks mom for selling some of your few possessions in order to provide for me.

Thanks to both of you for all your sacrifices to make my childhood as normal as possible.

Thank you mom for sticking with dad through the toughest times to keep our family together.

Thank you dad for always being there to fix whatever was wrong with my car, plumbing, electrical, etc and passing your skills on to my husband.

Thank you mom for teaching me to cook and being patient enough to help me learn to sew for the past 15 years (and I still can't get it right!)

Thank you both for always supporting me in my dreams to go to the university of my choice, even though it wasn't the cheap and easy option.

Thank you for helping me when money got tight in my post college years when I didn't have a full time job.

Thank you mom for always praying so diligently.

Thank you dad for being strong & protective.

There's so much more I could say about how wonderful my parents are. I'm so proud of them for how far they've come. They went from a couple of broke teenagers who fell in love and took their chances as new parents, to the successful parents of three driven children and doting grandparents to our sweet Malakai.

Love you!