Eddie smiled to herself as she peeked into their bedroom and saw Jamie and Grace fast asleep on the bed. It was an eventful first Mother's Day for her. Jamie, with slight assistance from their eleven month old, had brought her breakfast in bed that morning. Then, they took a day trip out to Coney Island to hit the boardwalk and the beach before making it back in time to Bay Ridge for family dinner.

She shut the bedroom door slightly and made her way back out to the living room. She wasn't too tired just yet and decided to catch up on one of her favorite T.V. shows while she could. She sat down on the couch and made herself comfortable. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a folded up piece of paper on the side table addressed to her in very familiar handwriting with a note laying next to it.

Happy Mother's Day :), the note said simply. She picked up the folded up sheet, stared at it curiously before finally opening and reading it.

Eddie,

There's so many things I want to say but then you'd be reading this all day. I guess the best way I can summarize it is… thank you.

First, thank you for everything do. I don't know how our family could function without you at the helm. You keep us together.

Next, thank you for giving us our little girl. I know you had to make a lot of sacrifices so that we could have our family and I will spend the rest of my life thanking you for that.

Most importantly, thank you for being an amazing mother to Grace. Watching you as a mother has been the greatest privilege of my life. I am in awe of you. You're truly an great mother, Eddie. Our daughter will never have any doubt in her mind about how much her mother loves and adores her. She is lucky to have you.

I know you say that she's more like me but I see more of you in her everyday. She has that adorable scrunch of her nose that you do when she laughs. She has the same tired face and rivals your appetite already at eleven months old. She's going to be as beautiful as you are and I'm sure that I'm going to wear my holster 24/7 when she's a teenager to scare the boys away. Seeing you two together is my favorite part of any day and seeing how much our daughter lights up around you makes me emotional. You two are always my top priorities in everything I do and are the greatest loves of my life.

And finally, thank you for always taking care of me. I definitely wasn't expecting those first few days after Grace's birth to be as an emotional rollercoaster for me as they were for you. We now had a beautiful baby girl and we were responsible for her and making sure that she turned out to be the best possible person she could be. The realization scared the hell out of me. I was terrified that I would do something to mess up our child. I felt like I wasn't justified to feel the way I was because I hadn't even done close to half of what you had done during those 9 months while we waited on Grace. You told me that the way I felt mattered to you and encouraged me to always voice how I felt because we were in it together.

I couldn't imagine doing any of this with anyone else. You and our little girl mean everything to me. I love you more than life itself, Eddie. Always and forever.

Happy 1st Mother's Day.

Love, Jamie.