Thank You . . .

THANK YOU . . . 

by Kelly Ann Williams

Dear Obnoxious little brother,

Thank you for reminding me that if I kill you, I’d be grounded for the rest of my life! I have big plans for my life - that don’t include you - so, I will keep my plans in mind and forget, for now, about all of your little tricks, lies, and attempts to make me mad. I will be the bigger person, and let everyone else see how annoying you really are. But, be careful, one of these days I WON’T be able to restrain myself! 

Regards,

Your awesome big sister, Lizzy

Dear Granny,

Thank you for bringing me to your house when mom wouldn’t let me go to Katie’s  last night. Katie’s my best friend, and her mom lets me come over whenever I want, and last night I HAD to get away from Dylan before he made me scream! I don’t know why I couldn’t go to Katie’s last night, mom was being more unreasonable than normal when I asked - saying NO, but not giving me a reason.  But, if I couldn’t go to Katie’s, I am glad to be at your house.  You and pop always make everything better, no matter what, especially since mom got sick and she can’t do fun things with us anymore. 

Thank you again, and I really do love it at your house, but can you talk to mom for me anyway - I need my friends too, middle school is HORRIBLE if you don’t have close friends!

Love,

Your little Lizzy-Pie

Dear Ms. Watson,

Thank you for letting me go to the bathroom today so everyone wouldn’t see me cry in class.  I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I start crying for no reason ALL THE TIME lately. Thank you for offering to let me go to the counselor, but I think I’ll be ok if I just go to the bathroom until my crying stops. Also, if I miss any work, can I finish it for homework?  I have plenty of time now, since I can’t go to swim practice anymore.

Thank you again, and I promise I’ll try not to let myself cry in class anymore.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Marx

Dear Katie-Batie,

Thank you for being my best friend no matter what, since we were 5 years old.  Thank you for letting me hang out with you at school and at home.  Thank you for giving me a place to go whenever my annoying little brother is making me miserable! Thank you for always checking on me when things aren’t going very well. And thank you for sticking up for me yesterday when those idiots were calling me “a maid” because I cook and clean at home - because I HAVE TO! I don’t know what I’d do without you as my friend! 

Thank you again, for being the best friend in the whole world!

Friends Forever,

Lizzy-Bizzy

Dear Jarrod B., Mason P., and Kyle A., 

Thank you so much for reminding me how important it is to be a nice person! When you teased me, called me a maid, and made fun of me for helping out at home, I felt horrible! Which reminds me that I WOULD NEVER want to make anyone feel like that.  If we understand that we never know what other people are going through, then we will always be kind to each other. And by the way, you can tease me and call me every name in the book, and it will never make me feel as bad as the way I feel about my mom having cancer!

So, thanks again for reminding me how important it is to be kind!

Regards,

Lizzy M. (The Maid)

Dear Dr. O’Dell,

Thank you for making today’s counseling session SO much better than I thought it would be. I REALLY didn’t want to come, but my Granny said we needed to come to support my mom. I liked the game we played - I ALWAYS like to play games that I can beat my brother at. But the best part was when I got to talk to you by myself; you let me talk, you listened, and I like that I can say anything and you don’t criticize me or tell me how I should feel or act. At home right now, it doesn’t feel like anyone knows or even cares about how I feel, so thank you for giving me a place where I can relax and be myself. I’m not exactly sure how coming to sessions with you is supporting my mom - she’s sick with cancer, not having a mental breakdown - but I am looking forward to coming again.  PLEASE don’t tell anyone, though, I don’t think my friends would understand me seeing a counselor, and I KNOW the other kids at school would make fun of me - middle school is SO HARD sometimes!

Thank you again and I’ll see you next week!

Respectfully, 

Lizzy Marx 

Dear Miss Amy (Becca’s mom),

Thank you for offering to give me a ride to swim practice so I didn’t have to miss anymore.  But, my Granny said I can’t go to swim practice for the “foreseeable future” - whatever that means. You know my mom is sick, and we’ve all had to make some changes because of my mom’s treatments, appointments, and helping out around the house. I’m the oldest, so I have a lot more responsibility now, since my mom can’t do as much. But I have been getting to do more cooking lately, which I really like.  My mom’s schedule and all my new jobs around the house don’t leave a lot of time for things like swim practice.  I do miss swimming, thought, and all my teammates.  I hope I can come to our next swim meet so I can at least watch and cheer everybody on.  My Granny says I can’t make too many plans right now, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Thank you again and tell Becca I said “hi”! 

Fondly,

Lizzy

Dear Dad,

I want to thank you for leaving when you did. I used to be so angry that you left and I prayed everyday you’d come back. But, once mom got sick and everything changed, I realized you NEVER would have been able to step up and do what had to be done like the rest of us did.  Even Dylan, who was so babied by everyone that he never did anything for himself, did his part - he learned to load and unload the dishwasher, fold laundry, and take out the trash all by himself! Not you, though, if you couldn’t handle it when mom did EVERYTHING, you definitely would have run when things got real - at the WORST possible time. And since you left when you did, I am strong and independent, and I know I can handle anything and do anything I put my mind to. So, thank you again for making sure I became the amazing person I am!

Not So Respectfully,

Elizabeth Ann (your only daughter)

Dear Dr. Alexander,

Thank you for working hard to help my mom fight cancer. You are nice to her and to us, and you always tell us to stay strong and hopeful. But, I’d like to ask you if you could work a little bit harder because my mom doesn’t seem to be getting better. My mom used to be amazing! She cooked the best meals, she drove us to swimming and soccer, and was NEVER late - how did she do that?  She baked us cookies, watched movies with us on Friday nights, and let us have friends over whenever we wanted.  She did all this AND worked so hard everyday - she was the BEST nurse in the hospital! But now, she can’t do anything! She has no energy to cook, she can’t drive, she doesn’t want to play games or watch movies with us anymore.  She just lays around on the couch or sleeps in bed.  We miss her Dr. Alexander, please keep working so we can have our mom back soon. 

Thankfully,

Elizabeth Marx

Dear Mom,

Thank you for letting me be there to hold your hand when you passed away. Granny didn’t think I should be there, she said I was too young, but for some reason she changed her mind. I never left your side the whole day, and I know you knew I was there - I felt you squeeze my hand. It was the scariest and the most important moment of my life. I am a different person than I was when I walked into your hospital room this morning, but in a good way, I think. I’m scared and a little unsure of what happens next, but I feel like you’ll guide me somehow. I’m tired, mom, like really tired - I wonder if this is the kind of tired you were at the end? I think I’ll feel better once I sleep, so I’m going to Granny’s and sleep, and dream about you not being sick anymore, not being in pain anymore, smiling, laughing, and swimming in the ocean - doing all the things you loved. 

Thank you, mom, for being our mom as long as you could. Dylan and I will never forget how awesome you were. 

Love you always,

Lizzy Ann

Dear God,

I know I’m supposed to be thanking you, but I’m just so mad at you!!!  Why did you take my mom so soon? I’m not done needing her yet! How am I going to survive the rest of middle school and high school without her? How am I going to learn to be a woman when I don’t have anyone to follow anymore? She didn’t finish teaching me how to cook and bake yet! We just started talking about boys, but I still have SO many questions, and she’s not here to answer them!!! Why couldn’t you just give me a few more years with her? She’s such an amazing mom, and that’s probably why you wanted her so soon. Or maybe you couldn’t help her here, so you brought her with you to ease her pain and take away the cancer. I guess that’s what I should be grateful for - that my mom isn’t in pain anymore. 

So, thank you God, for taking away my mom’s pain. And please let her watch over us, so she can see what great people Dylan and I will become, because of her. 

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Marx

(Annie Marx’s daughter)

Dear Mom,

I wanted to thank you for raising me to be a strong and driven young woman.  I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since you left us, but you are the reason I’ve grown into the woman I am.  When you got sick, I had to learn to do the things around the house that you couldn’t do anymore, which taught me independence. Dealing with your illness taught me how to be strong in the face of a terrible storm.  But it was who you were BEFORE you got sick that made the biggest impression on me.  You were the ultimate Super Mom; working full time, running us to our sports, taking care of the house, and making sure we never wanted for anything. THAT’s the woman that made me who I am today. 

You see, mom, after you died, the first thing I did was ask Granny to let me go back to swimming, which she did.  I was a different person; at first I was so driven to catch up and get back to where I was when I left.  Every practice was about rebuilding my skills and beating my times.  But then it became about how much more I could do - you weren’t there to push me anymore, so I decided to push myself. Six months later, I set my ultimate goal -  I was going to the Olympics.  I approached everything in my life with determination and a goal to succeed. I always asked myself “what would mom do in this situation?”, then I went out and killed it, just like you always did! So, here I am mom, an Olympic gold medalist, because of you. I have your initials tattooed on my wrist, so I took you with me into the pool every day, you were with me in every race, you pushed me to make the Olympic Swim Team, and you made sure I placed in every race I swam. I’ve achieved every goal I’ve set for myself so far, all because of you.  And I have no doubt I’ll accomplish all the goals I set for my future - the next one being graduating with my nursing degree and following in your footsteps. 

Thank you again, mom, thank you for giving everything you had to Dylan and I. I sincerely hope we always make you proud!

Love You Always & Forever,

Lizzy Ann