But most of all, thank you for inspiring me to be who I am today and for your constant and unconditional love and support. Life was not always easy for you or our family but you proved to be more than a mother. You were my best friend and someone I could always talk to when I had a bad day and needed your guidance and wisdom. Here’s what I’m thankful for: Thanks for proving that being an only child to a physically challenged father struck with polio was absolutely nothing to be ashamed of and for showing all the boys on your block that you could play stickball and other sports better than them and even win trophies as an adult on the national stage in bowling. Thanks for being a beloved elementary school teacher who’s students adored you and in turn instilled in me a love for inspiring my students in the classroom. Thanks for being involved in my education, in the PTA, and helping me to study for every exam and working with me on every project for school; taking me to the library with you and teaching me research skills all the way through to college. Thank you for identifying my lack of self-confidence early on and working on that with me by enrolling me in camp and music lessons and little league baseball. Thank you for always saying how much you loved clothes-shopping for me and dressing your “handsome prince” because you said I looked good in everything you got me and making me feel good about myself. Thank you for planning an educational family trip across the nation every summer so my sister and I could visit places that made our text books literally come alive! Mom, thanks for coming to every freakin’ concert and recital I was ever in from elementary school all the way to college so I could look out on the audience and see you and never feel nervous or alone. Thank you for encouraging me to finish college and to pursue my talents and dreams in the music industry. Thank you for being proud of everything I ever did.
Even when you could no longer walk, thank you for calling me and caring about me from your bed when I was sick and making sure I went to the doctor and reminding me daily to get my flu shot. Thank you for those long talks and texts about The Mets, J.R.R. Tolkien movies, Joseph Campbell, what was going on in politics, and for telling me to turn on PBS for a fascinating program you knew I would really like and that we could talk about afterwards for hours (Ken Burns and Nova especially). Thanks for teaching me how to collect stamps, coins, different types of rocks and jazz albums. Thanks for teaching me about acceptance and tolerance and how to be colorblind. Thanks for showing me how important culture, history, and the Arts were and exposing me to museums, concerts and the ballet (the Nutcracker every year) and taking me to my first jazz concert as a teenager with 2 of my saxophone heroes battling it out on stage (Grover Washington Jr. and Sonny Rollins at Town Hall). Thank you for making every Hannukah and Passover the best and even when you didn’t have much money, you always managed to buy me something that would make my childhood fun and enriching. Thanks for those long talks about our family tree and sharing all your memories of your childhood with me (like going to Sweet 16 parties as a teenager and how funny it was that the same little known entertainer at the time was always hired, Tony Bennett). Thanks for supporting me through my divorce - immediately and unconditionally, when I needed your love and understanding the most, and for being so accepting of my new love and beautiful wife. Thanks for giving me a glimpse of what it must have been like for me as a kid by showing these past few years how proud of my nephew Angel and my stepson Lawrence you were and how happy it made you to learn of their successes and accomplishments. Thank you for being my best friend, my strength, my rock, and quite possibly being the best damn Mom ever!
I love you and miss you. - Your loving son. 💕
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