A letter to my oldest daughter

Dear McKenna,

I've been called many things in my life, I'm a daughter, granddaughter, sister, cousin, and friend, but you, my dear, you gave me the best name anyone could ever be bestowed upon and that's "mom". I love being your mom, you make it so easy. From day one you have been an easy going child and 11 years later it still holds true. Don't ever change your attitude on life. You never see the bad in anything, always the good and that's just one of the things I adore about you. You are always there to lend a hand and help out.

I look at you, when you're not aware, and I wonder "what happened?" Didn't I just give birth to you? You're my first born, you gave me the best job ever, YOU made me a mom and now you're almost a teenager and I sit there, as I'm staring at you, wondering when did I fall asleep and why did I wake up to a tween? I look at your baby pictures every now and than and I don't see that precious, beautiful little girl, I see my daughter who is almost as tall as me looking back at me, still precious and beautiful but you're almost as tall as me and you're a photocopy of me.

I didn't know anything about being a mother when I was pregnant with you, but you taught me so much. You taught me how to look at life through a child's eye and it became so much more fun. Thank you for teaching me it's not all about work and paying bills, it's about forgetting them once in awhile and getting down on the floor and playing with those really cool toys of yours, like playing house and making up stories and using your stuffed animals as your cast of characters, looking at the clouds and pointing to them saying "hey, that one looks like a duck". McKenna, I can not say it enough so I will say it again, I love being your mom.

I know that there are times that I can be hard on you, but I hope that as you get older you realize that I only did it because I love you and nothing else. I know what you're capable of doing and I want so much for you to succeed in life. I want so much more for you, I want you to have what I didn't. I want you to look back on your life and say "Thanks, mom" I want you to call me up when you have you're own family and say "now I understand, mom"

Thank you, McKenna, for letting me be your mom.

I love you today, tomorrow and always.

Mom