Today, I may be celebrating myself, but more importantly, I’m celebrating my parents.

Without them deciding that they wanted the blessing of another child, I wouldn’t exist. They could have very well just had one child and decided that was enough.

But they didn’t do that. So, they had a beautiful baby girl on November 14th, 1996.

Not only am I celebrating my parents for having given me life, I’m celebrating them for shaping that life into what it is today.

I’m celebrating them for twenty-one years of dealing with me, of parenting me. I’m celebrating them for teaching me the difference between right and wrong and that everything has consequences (good or bad). I’m celebrating them for their ability to always cheer me up after a bad day, or just make me feel better when I’m sick. I’m celebrating them for making a house a home and a family more than just the people you live with.

They didn’t get to choose the child that they created, but they got to choose what type of person I grew up to be. Parenting is a big part of what makes us who we are. And they did an amazing job.

So thank you, Mama and Daddy, for giving me life, and the ability to live it how I should to be the person I want to be.

I love you both so much.

Happy twenty-one years of shaping me into the woman I am today.

Stay golden,

Emily