Parenting Together

Thank You

To my aunt
thank you
For showing up when others disappeared.
For teaching me that love doesn’t have to be loud to be real,
that strength can whisper,
that care can look like cooking dinner,
checking in,
remembering my birthday
when no one else did.

You never asked for credit.
You just did what needed doing
steady hands,
open door,
a quiet “how are you really?”
when no one else could handle the answer.
You reminded me that family
isn’t always blood
It’s the one person who keeps showing up
after the flood.

I appreciate you.
For the way your house always smelled like safety,
for stories that taught me where I come from
When I was lost in where I was going.
For hands that never stopped working
and a heart that never stopped believing
I would make it out,
even when I didn’t believe it myself.

You showed me what survival looks like
when it smiles.
What forgiveness sounds like
when it hums over coffee.
You taught me that healing.
It can come slowly, but it still comes.

You are the roots I reach for
when everything else feels unstable.
You are the reason I know
Love can be both gentle and fierce.

So this is my thank you
not in flowers or cards,
But in a breath,
And every tomorrow I get to see
because of you.