the best academy is a mother's knee.

what it really comes down to at the end of the day is that everything good i have learned in this world i have learned from my mother. she is my inspiration, my guidance, and my hero. the yellow brick road of life has placed a lot of broken bridges, curves, and bumper to bumper traffic jams on her path but she keeps on cruising with more grace than anybody i have ever met. 

living at home this summer has been a joy because i have been able to come home most evenings and find myself in conversation with my mom. we talk about any topic you can imagine. most days, she listens to me vent about the kids i nanny and the petty drama of being a nineteen year old girl. but she also lends an ear when i am planning my future. when i came home everyday with a new career in mind during the month of june, my mom told me exactly why i could succeed doing whatever i had decided. 

that seemingly insignificant detail is exactly why carol connerly szabo is the most wonderful mother i could have asked for. she believes in me without a doubt, one hundred percent, unfailingly. i know that a lot of children/young adults/grown ups could say that about their parents but i'm lucky because with everything i have put her (and my father) through, the certainty in me is still there. 

when reading my blog yesterday, my mom made a small remark on how i had stated that my sisters mean everything to me. while that is absolutely true, i never meant to make my mom think that i did not feel that way about her. 

so thank you mom. thank you for being my "mad men" buddy. thank you for taking personal days to spend with me, just because you knew that's the best medicine i could have had. thank you for putting on dr. laura schlessinger, even though you knew it drove me nuts. thank you for painting my nails that one day when i had a tummyache. but mostly, thank you for allowing me the honor of being your daughter. 




"i know you were on my side,
even when i was wrong.
and i love you for giving me your eyes.
staying back and watching me shine.
i didn't know if you knew but
i'm taking this chance to say,
that i had the best day with you today." 
-t.swift.