Dear Ada,

Thank you.

Thank you for all of your lessons and support.  

Thank you for your example of strength and fortitude.

Thank you for nurturing thought and curiosity in my much younger self.

Thank you for hours and hours over days and weeks and years when I was laying on your bed or sitting in your living room or in your old kitchen, talking about life, jobs, boys, school, science, politics, the world, the universe, and all the maybes and somedays.

Thank you for all your tips and tricks for relationships and guys.
 
Thank you for knowing when a guy was bad for me, and letting me make my own mistakes.

Thank you for tips on nail polish, bras, and knowing which part of an outfit to spend money on, and which to buy cheap.

Thank you for throwing your fist in the air and silently yelling "yes!" when I was now pronounced wife to a man.
 
Thank you for talking me out of wearing that dress that I really wanted when I was 14- That one with the yellow flowers that was totally adorable on the hanger, but looked just awful on me.
 
Thank you for being the person who, when my mother and I would disagree, we could go to for a final judgement.

Thank you for being very kind, while being very direct.  I strive to be like you on this in all of my encounters.

Thank you for telling stories about you and your sister as you grew up together, and the way you thought about, and so very admired her.  I remember thinking with wide eyes about all the times that Katie and I would have like yours and how wonderful it would be to go through life with someone like that.  It has been, is, and I expect will continue being everything you set it up to be.

Thank you for treating me like I was something special.  I remember when you were first back visiting school after the accident. I was nervous to bother you, because so many people wanted to see you, but when I poked my 11-year-old head into the teachers' lounge, you stopped your stories to the masses gathered around you, and yelled for me to come sit on your lap and chat about my day.

Thank you for being an imperfect person, and acknowledging that this is okay, as long as we try to do better.  Thank you for forgiving me my weaknesses.

Thank you for always having the interest and engagement in my thoughts, opinions, and stories that most other adults would never have, and for that continued interest once I was grown.

Thank you for times when it was just us two.  And all that you told me.  And how I saw things in such a different way, given your input.  And how I always felt ready to conquer the world after.

Thank you for making a 10-year-old me, who took soooo long to write words down and had given up, pick my paper up out of the trash and finish it, because you knew it was going to win writing awards.

Thank you for telling me that it was simply necessary because it was a story worth finishing.

Thank you for listening about the story I'm writing now, just for fun, and for telling me that this, too, is a story worth finishing, and that other people need to read it.

Thank you for the amazing look in your eyes when I told you about something I was working on or happy about.  I hope I never forget that face.

Thank you for the way you put your hand over your mouth when I told you something I was worried about.

Thank you being the type of thinker to make me constantly consider "What would Ada have to say about this?"

Thank you for calling me your second daughter.

Thank you for rescuing my dress a week before my wedding, when it was 3 sizes too big.

Thank you for being someone my mother could joke with every 45 minutes and call with her crises.
 
Thank you for your sweet daughter, who I'm lucky to call my best friend.  In her, your kind heart beats on.

I think of you every day.

To my teacher, my friend, and my greatest mentor:
God bless and good travels until we meet again.