Mom and Dad:
You do so much for me, and you know so much about life and how it works, but I don’t think you truly know how much I appreciate everything you’ve done. The two of you are my inspiration and my drive; you keep me going even when I feel like I’m going to fall down.
Mom—You push me to try a lot of new things, even though I may not always want to. However, it always turns out right, because you say will. Today I was cleaning my room, and I saw my trophy for winning the Top Teen Poetry Contest from last year. I remembered how much I didn’t want to do the contest back then. I didn’t know about the contest until the day of the contest, so I decided not to participate. However, you pushed me to write a poem anyways, so that day in school I tried my best to write a good poem, even though I was positive that it was going to be terrible. When I showed you the poem later, you were so proud of me! Your pride made me feel proud of myself, which was something I hadn’t been doing lately. Soon afterwards, I found out that I was supposed to read the poem out loud. Once again, I felt like chickening out, but you encouraged me to try the recitation anyways, and it went great! Everyone was clapping and cheering, and when I was awarded the trophy for first place, I felt like I could fly, all thanks to you. If you hadn’t pushed me to participate in the contest, I never would have written an award-winning poem, and I never would’ve realized how much impact words can have. You always seem to know the extent of my abilities, even when I don’t know them myself. Thank you for pushing me to do my best, even when I feel like tumbling down.
Dad—You’re like the life of the family, always joking around and showing me funny pictures. Sometimes your jokes are really corny, but in reality, I still think they’re funny. You always know how to make me feel better when I’m feeling down. When I was about 7 years old, I used to get really frustrated when I was having an off day practicing piano. One day, I was having a terrible day and just couldn’t hit any of the right keys. I ended up getting so frustrated that I started crying. A few minutes later, you came in with three of my stuffed animals: Meow Meow the cat, Whon Whon (not Swon Whon) the duck, and Ellie the elephant. You told me that it was Meow Meow and Whon Whon’s wedding day, and that they needed wedding music. I thought it was funny, so I stopped crying and started playing “Wedding March” on the piano. That’s when I noticed that, Hey! I wasn’t making a million piano mistakes anymore! As I played, you made Meow Meow and Whon Whon “walk” down the aisle. When I was done playing, you told me that the bridal procession had been halted because Whon Whon had to go get his “duck tux.” (To this day, I still find that pretty funny.) When Whon Whon came back, you made Ellie “marry” the cat and the duck, and told me that Ellie was at the wedding with the Peanut Gallery. Back then, you told me you thought the Peanut Gallery was a museum full of peanuts. That day was magical, because you helped me laugh and smile again, while creating a bond between father and daughter with my stuffed animals—that memory will always be one of my favorite memories. Thank you for always being there to make me laugh when I’m feeling blue.
Amber T.
