Mother's Day

So today, like every year before, is a special day where we celebrate having our mothers.
They give us life, they give us advice, they give us heckling and they give us support.

I'm not witty enough to razzle dazzle anyone reading this or beat those awesome touching hallmark cards.. so I'm just going to put it all here in a jumble of words I hope will make sense.

Like most people, when I hit my teenage years (I like to pretend it was just those years) I was an absolute terror for my parents. Lets blame it on hormones, hm?
We've fought together, laughed together, cried together. I haven't exactly been the shining example of a perfect daughter and I've made some royal mistakes in my life - but I'm always loved regardless.

So I'm going to take this time to thank the woman who has been there while I've made those mistakes and learned from there.
But where does one start?

Thank you for always having food on the table. Thank you for providing a roof over my head. Thank you for never letting me go without anything.

Thank you for seeing how awed I was when watching Spruce Meadows on TV as a kid. Thanks for taking me for trail rides so I could see a horse in the flesh and ride one - ultimately igniting the love the horses I have to this day. Thank you for taking me to those trail rides week after week during that summer so I could get my horsey fix. Thanks for sacrificing your sanity so I could watch those horse shows on the television. Thanks for signing me up for riding lessons after that summer.

Thank you for driving me to those weekly lessons for years and years. Thanks for taking me to those tack shops to get proper riding equipment. Thanks for listening to my rants and raves on my lessons, for asking questions and trying to learn. Thanks for continuing my riding lessons when the original barn shut down.

Thanks for finding a horse for me to partboard when I was devastated that the riding school moved too far away. Thanks for driving me to that barn multiple times per week. Thanks for supporting me with lessons and part-boarding, even when I had to ride other horses. Thanks for listening to me that day I found out a certain Fjord x TB colt was coming to the barn. Thanks for bringing me up to the barn more often so I could see that horse. Thanks for listening to all my accomplishments and setbacks. Thank you for being supportive when I thought I'd forever lost that horse.

Thanks for calling me when I was at camp when you found out that horse was for sale. Thank you for bending over backwards to help me get that horse and, despite not even knowing where to start, managed to get that horse moved and boarded elsewhere. Thank you for being a "half owner" to help me keep him. Thanks for driving me up to the barn all the time so that I could see my "heart horse" and spend time with him even though a barn setting is not your favourite thing.

Thank you for the additional tack shopping sprees we had, trying your best to make sure I had adequate equipment for Symbah. Again, thank you for always driving me up to the barn even when you had exhausting days at work and wanted to simply sit down to relax. Thank you for driving me to the barn on those insanely early horse show mornings when you could've been sleeping in.

Thank you for being my support throughout the years even when I took horse ownership on my own. Thank you for even pretending to listen to my rants and raves of the horse world, my fears, my troubles. Thanks for lending me your car after I got my license, so that I could continue to go to the barn.

Even more recently..
Thank you for helping me get Symbah back home. Thank you for going to my recent horse show and even registering me when I was running late. Thanks for hanging out at the show while taking videos. Thanks for asking me how my rides go, thanks for asking about Symbah in general.

Thanks for allowing me to get into horses in the first place and finding something I truly love/enjoy.
Thank you for taking care of my dog while I was at school and unable to take her. Thanks for lending me your vehicle so I could safely travel.

Thank you for being there for me. For being my support, my teacher, my voice of reason, my guidance, my mother.

I know I don't say thank you enough. Or that I love you. But I do. You rock.
And I wrote this because I want others to understand just how much you mean to me and all you've done for me. Perhaps it's not as warm-hearted as a touching Hallmark card, but these words come from the heart.

Thank you.