Dear Mommy:

Being a writer (if that’s what I call myself) allows me a certain creative freedom that I don’t often know what to do with. But what good is being a writer, if I can’t share my thoughts about something with someone other than my two biggest fans ( you and Daddy). And so I decided to share this short note not just with you, but with the world. Hope you don’t mind.

Mother’s Day is a special day but not because Hallmark says so. It’s because it’s the one day of the year that everyone else recognizes what I know everyday. That mother’s don’t just give life, they make, create and mold life. And everyday, every year I grow older, I realize how much of me was molded, created, and made by you.  Nowadays I catch myself staring at a picture of myself, with my hair pulled back, and do a double take. Because after 33 years of being told “you look just like your daddy”, I now see this face as a mirror of yours. And I’m filled with an overwhelming sense of joy and pride that now, I look like my mama.  Not every little girl gets to grow up, never wanting for anything, never knowing what it meant to be “without”, never wondering if she was loved. You gave me life and then you gave me love. Love that I can only dream and pray to replicate in my own children. When others struggle and say they can’t ask their parents for help, I find it incomprehensible because I always know where to get my help. First Jesus, and then my mama.  It’s not everyone’s reality. But it is mine.  Many people wait for funerals to tell how much they love someone. You’ve always lived by the motto “Give me my flowers now, while I am here to smell them.” So today, I give you these words, as flowers, so that you know and never doubt that you are the best thing that ever happened to me.  God broke the mold when he made my mama. I can only hope he puts it back together to create me as a mother into your image. So for all the times I had dance, theatre and piano in the same day, I say thank you.  For all the random credit charges from stores at Lenox Mall my freshman year, I say thank you.  For all my secrets you kept from Daddy (lest he have a heart attack), I say THANK YOU.  For teaching me how to nurture and care for those I love dearly, I say thank you. Thank you for praying that God would give me to you. Because I thank Him everyday that he gave you to me.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Love,

La’Keitha Jonise