My girl

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

When we were sharing '30 gratitudes' in 2012, I asked the kids to choose someone and write a letter of gratitude and read the letter to them - the effect on your endorphins is amazing, studies say, when you express gratitude directly to the person you're grateful for. Saanya wrote a letter to me. Remembering her words today, with so much gratitude. I love you beta.

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Dear Ma,

When I think of the word gratitude, you are the first thing that comes to mind. Not just because you are writing this blog or because it is a value that you have worked so hard to try and instill in Zayd and me for years, but because there is nothing in the world that I am more grateful for than you. You are my confidante, my shoulder to cry on, my strength, and my best friend all in one. And while I may sometimes take for granted all that you do (because I am a teenager and well…I’m a teenager) you never fail to make me smile and fix whatever is on my mind, whether it be a headache or a rough day.

You have been there for me through every mean comment at school, through every bad grade, through every long history assignment, and through the most trying of times, without a complaint or the credit that you deserve. You have been there to pick me up when I’m down, to tell me that everything is going to be okay so many times that I might actually begin to believe it, and to make ice cream sundaes and dance around in pajamas after a long week of school.

Lately I have been obsessed with a show called Gilmore Girls and have been watching episode after episode. It is about a mother, Lorelai, and her daughter Rory and their lives in a small town in Connecticut. They have this special bond that is deeper than their matching blue eyes. They know what is on each other’s minds and how to make each other happy. While you and I don’t have the blue eyes, nor do we live in small town CT, you will always be my Lorelai, my best friend, my mama.

Love,

Saanya