Thank You - Part 1

Thank you to the 16-year-old girl who cried alone in her room at 2 AM.
Thank you for listening to all of those sad songs until you could sing them word-for-word. Thank you for allowing yourself to feel so low, so dejected and unwanted. Thank you for letting the tears stain your cheeks. Thank you for painting your skin red, leaving a permanent reminder that you had been so overwhelmed and out of control. Thank you for opening your heart to all of the wrong people.
Thank you for hating yourself all of those years ago so that I could love you now.

Thank you to all of the boys who weren't quite men, stuck in the space between childhood and adulthood.
Thank you for all of the plans that had fallen through and the nights I had fallen asleep, phone in hand, waiting to hear from you. Thank you for leaving without any explanation or reason. Thank you for the tears I shed over you, convinced I would never feel for anyone else the way I had for you.
Thank you for not being "the one".
Thank you for helping me become the woman who recognizes that I am allowed to love myself without the validation of someone else.

Thank you to the woman who brought me into this world.
Thank you for always reminding me of the ways in which I never measured up in your eyes. Thank you for promising to protect and love me for as long as you lived and for always falling short. Thank you being being the woman I couldn't come to with a broken heart. Thank you for watching me drown in my own thoughts and never loving me enough to throw me a lifesaver. Thank you for choosing a man over your child. Than you for being the victim and never the aggressor, always the sheep and never the wolf.
Thank you for giving up on me so that I could find the strength to believe in myself in ways that you never did.
Thank you for teaching me that blood isn't always thicker than water.