Dear Son,
I can't help loving you. I love you so much just because you are my son. I started loving you the day I first held you in my arms.
I fed you, I bathed you, I rocked you to sleep, and that made me love you more.
I watched you learn to walk. I got good walking shoes for you, and watched you toddle around in your new shoes. That made me love you more.
You rode your little car all around the house. You grinned at me, and I loved you that much more.
You colored with crayons in your coloring books. You explored the world with intense curiosity. You played with the ants in the yard until they stung you, but you played with them again because it was fun, even if you got stung. All I could do was treat your ant stings and love you more and more.
I scratched your back. I scratched your back some more. You asked me to scratch more and I scratched your back again. I have been scratching your back all your life, and I love you more and more with every scratch.
I got cars and trucks and tractors and trailers for you. You have driven your cars up and down my body, all across my furniture, and on every wall in every house we've lived in. I have loved you through every inch those little cars have traveled.
Now you are older. You are interested in different things. Your friends and classmates influence your opinions more than I do. It is that time in your life when you will learn so much more about the world outside of our house, our family, your school, this neighborhood.
Growing up is not easy. I cannot fix everything that goes wrong in your life anymore, not the way I could when you were three years old. But I love you now even more than I did then. There are still some things that I can help fix, but only if you let me. No matter what your choices are, I still love you. Loving you is a part of who I am.
-Mom
