Like a sunset in the sky you distract me from my fears

A daughter needs a mom to remind her, on bad days, that she is not alone.

A daughter needs a mom...

     to carry her when she is tired.

     to show her the comfort of a warm embrace.

     to sing her to sleep.

     to teach her to laugh at herself.

A daughter needs a mom..

     to tell her that the road to happiness is not always straight.

     to explain that the sweetest flower may not always be the pretties.

     to instill patience in her.

A daughter needs a mom because without her she will have less in her life than she deserves.
- Gregory E. Lang

"To Lindsay, (my beautiful, intelligent, talented... daughter), you mean the world to me. Always dream big and remember why a daughter needs a Mom.
                 Your Mom (where you inherited everything from...)- Christmas 2005"

My mother has been the greatest inspiration in my life. She alone is the reason I have been able to come so far in life and have been given the opportunities that I have. My mother saw the potential inside me and pushed me to excel, teaching me never to settle for second best. We are so much alike that we constantly were butting heads while I was growing up. This lead to a lot of fights. But honestly, who can say that they didn't fight with their parents growing up. It's a rule that every child should do the opposite of what their parents tell them too :). It wasn't until after I moved out that my mom and I began to see how much we really needed one another.

When I first started living on my own I thought that I would be lost. I soon realized that my mom had been preparing me for this moment my whole life. There was a reason she raised me to be an independent individual. She knew there would be a time when I would have to step into the world and live my own life. I couldn't have been more ready and I owe it all to her. It was then that I knew for certain my mother was, and always had been, my best friend. She was there for me when I needed her. I would literally cry to my mom and she always knew exactly what I needed to hear. She comforted me when I had my first breakup, telling me it wasn't the end of the world, and he wasn't good enough for me anyways. She was there when I got my first bad grade on a test in college, telling me to suck it up and study harder ;), saying it was just a fluke and everyone gets at least one bad exam grade so not to worry or stress over it. If you know me at all, I am a complete nut case when it comes to grades and I only settle for absolute perfection. But through it all my mother taught me patience. She taught me to take things as they come, and if something doesn't work out it was for the best and was never meant to be.

Growing up, I watched my mother raise my brother and I on her own while working full time and going to school to get her teaching degree. In my eyes she never struggled. I'm not naive to think it wasn't hard for her, but she didn't let us know if she was worried or if things were difficult. She always showed such strength and determination and I hoped that I would become half the person she is. I remember staring at my mother, knowing she was the most beautiful being I have ever seen. I would watch her put on make up or get dressed every day, and when she didn't know it, I would sneak into her closet and try on all of her clothes, especially her shoes. I wanted, and still want to this day, to be everything my mother is. There is a framed picture I keep of my mother that I look at every day. It's a simple picture of her posing with her hands on her hips leaning against a car. It's the simplicity and ease in which my mother shows with no effort at all that makes it my favorite picture. Without even trying she managed to look absolutely astonishing. Whenever I miss her or if I am stressed, and a hundred phone calls a day just aren't cutting it (and believe me we really do talk to each other that many times a day), I look at this photograph and remember it is all worth it. I tell myself if my mom can do it, then so can I.

My mother is the greatest inspiration in my life and I hope that with all my accomplishments, and those still to come, my mom will be proud of me. I wish that one day she will be able to talk about me with such pride and admiration, showing me off, and telling everyone around her that I am her daughter. And when she does this, I hope she knows that she is the reason I have become such a great person. I want her to know that if I didn't have her in my life as my mother I would have never become the strong individual I am today.I owe it all to her. (Mom, this also means that if I become a horrible person or mask murderer it essentially is your fault too ha ha.) But in all seriousness, I want people to compliment my mother and tell her how much of a wonderful job she did raising me because she deserves it. I love you Mom

-Always and forever your Binny Nell (Binners)