10.  Thank you for the all of the clothes and uniforms that you sewed.  The Snow White outfit you made for me my seventh grade year was crazy good. It should have won the costume contest.

9.  I'm glad you said no to my wearing boyish shirts in High School when they were in style.  I already lacked a figure.  And I'm sure I would only have come back later to say "Why did you let me dress that way?"....... So thanks.

At the same time, thanks for letting me sport the ridiculous "high hair" of the nineties and for all of the money you spent on aerosol hair spray.  I was good at that hair.  And I'm at a place in life now where I can look back at pictures and have a much-needed giggle.

 8. Thanks for that magnification light-up mirror you surprised me with one afternoon after school.  Maybe if I would have used it more I would have seen how unappreciative I was.

7.  Remember the time you made me close every cabinet door and drawer in the entire kitchen because I was constantly leaving them open? I have two things to say about that:  #1. I'm glad no one turned you in for child abuse. #2. You should be glad to know that your harsh punishment was effective.  Emotional scarring has lead to consistent door closing.

6.  I have your scary face when one of the kids has pushed me too far. I suspect Vicki and Jennifer have it too.  The scary face gene is strong.

5.  Making chocolate chip cookies for just about every occasion, or no occasion at all is one of the traditions I'm proud to be carrying on. I hope my kids think they're as special as I thought they were.  They melted many bad days away.

4.  I'm sorry for crying and hiding on the floor board (at an embarrassingly old age) when I got that kinky perm.  Sorry too, for right thereafter, refusing to get out of the car to go into Koffee Kup and eat.

3.  Thanks for being my GA leader and for always having me at church.  Thanks for attending countless basketball games and track meets. Thanks for continuing the shopping trips when there was disagreement on apparel choices and forgotten thank you's.  Thank you that you taught me to say I'm sorry, but that forgiveness wasn't dependent upon it.

2. You know that time you let me go to the lake with Paula?  I got in the water even though you told me not to.

1 1/2.  Thanks for ceasing the communication between me and the boy with the orange stripe in his hair and the boy from Walnut Springs who wrote me the provocative love letter.  They probably weren't good choices.

1. You were right.