I wrote this for my mom last July, in celebration of her birthday. I read it to her again and again over the last few weeks:
By now you have figured out that life is beautiful, fulfilling, profound, hard, and even scary sometimes. I think the thing that makes life more of the good than the difficult, is love. People who know love draw strength from it. It is the source of their way of thinking- it gives them a perspective of light, so goodness, and caring flow from them.
For me that source has always come from you. I have always known that no matter what else happens in life, that you love me. Even in my worst times- times of loss, or loneliness, or suffering, you have been there, a presence in my heart and in my mind, like your voice reading to me, soothing me to sleep. So I have never been too afraid of anything, or too sad, or too lonely. I have always known I would be fine, just because I knew beyond any doubt; there was one person who loved me.
It has allowed me to love boldly, and to enjoy life to the fullest by the minute. Love is funny that way, it does not run out, it is not spent, but grows spreading outward, like a tree that needs no water, but bears fruit from air.
I hope that you know now, and have known that my love for you is born from that fruit, and is just as strong, and just as unconditional. I hope you take strength from it, and I hope it sustains you as your love has sustained me.
Today you are beautiful and strong. You have important things to say, and much to give the world. Enjoy this time, live the life of one who is loved, continue to spread the love, and live boldly!