Don't go off to College mom!!

To the men in my life;

I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, but under all of that I am a woman. I have desires and dreams and hopes. I want to fly off on grand adventures, and I want to live life and I want to breathe the ocean air, and I want to be loved for who I am not what I am. I want to be romanced and I need to feel special sometimes. There are things I want to accomplish in this life. I have so many things that I want to see and do before I am old and unable to see and do them. It gets a little tiring trying to be everything to everyone and nothing to myself.

I think sometimes you all overlook the fact that underneath this person you think I am, there is a woman. Each one of you thinks that I am simply your wife or your mom. I shouldn't want things and I shouldn't have dreams, after all if I were anything but a servant to your wishes and whims you might have to do things for yourselves. Perhaps you think that I may find some happiness outside of you and it would exclude you from a part of my life. Possibly you think that I will leave you behind, or maybe you think that I don't deserve a life outside of this world or that maybe I will stop loving you if I have a life beyond this one.

I will not stop loving you if I step outside these doors on my own, and I won't forget you, and I won't leave you behind. I do deserve to venture out on my own and live my own life, and I want you to be proud of the things I have done just like I am proud of each of you for every accomplishment you have made and will make. I am on this journey through life with you, and we might not share every adventure and we might not be there for every failure, but that is never going to change the fact that I will always be here for you when you need me. It doesn't mean that I won't drop everything I am doing at any given moment to hold your hand and get you over difficult times in your life; it doesn't mean that I am giving up on you or your dreams. I am your mom and that is what mom's do for their children. It just means that I can't live through you. You are all growing up and before long you will want to venture out and live your own lives and I just need to prepare myself for that time. I will always love you and you will always be the most important things in my life.