thank you for saying that it doesn't matter

thank you for teaching me to make a fire

thank you for choosing your words so well

thank you for speaking with me about the unspeakable

thank you for being the parent I didn't have

thank you for running your fingers on books on their shelves

thank you for removing a fishbone from my throat

thank you for meditating with me, for hours, for days

thank you for reading to me

thank you for not using emojis

thank you for helping me to arrange my toy animals around my head in bed every night so that each of them touched my head

thank you for making me realize that adults don't deserve respect just because they are adults

thank you for making me feel secure

thank you for telling me I had hurt you

thank you for showing me so much kindness when I couldn't show kindness to myself

thank you for agreeing to cut the camping trip short because I became afraid of the woods

thank you for carrying me to sleep

thank you for treating my feelings for you so respectfully

thank you for being the backbone of our small Buddhist community

thank you for sitting at my bedside, holding my hand

thank you for making me feel important ever after my sister was born

thank you for showing me how to glue pebbles together to make castles

thank you for making me understand I don't have to settle

thank you for writing me back

thank you for telling me I'm a wonderful person when I just wanted to be dead

thank you for painting your beautiful and disturbing paintings

thank you for your music

thank you for making me see my prejudices

thank you for pushing me to evolve

thank you for telling me it takes many years of unlearning to start to find your own voice

thank you for believing in me and telling that to me

thank you for putting up with my premenstrual dysphoric disorder

thank you for helping me see there's more to life than pleasing others, living up to standards, and wanting to be the best

thank you for always taking us to opera and ballet even though money was tight

thank you for gluing poems to our bathroom walls and hanging up our drawings and paintings on washing lines that reached from one living room wall to another

thank you for teaching me that the most important part of a meal is to share it with others

thank you for teaching me not to take food for granted

thank you for teaching me how to care for my body

thank you for making me soup

thank you for playing at my father's funeral

thank you for lending me your toothbrush

thank you for cleaning my apartment when I was too ill to do that myself

thank you for taking part in my artwork

thank you for saying it's not for me to judge

thank you for taking me hiking in the mountains

thank you for inviting me to visit your house and studio

thank you for loving the sweater I made

thank you for taking me sailing

thank you for making me feel like a part of your family

thank you for holding a hot water bottle on my stomach when I had menstrual cramps

thank you for carrying me home on your back

thank you for saying I can call you anytime

thank you for telling me to never point the gun at anyone

thank you for teaching me how to chop wood

thank you for keeping me awake until dawn

thank you for giving me advice on to heal a black eye and prevent scarring on the face

thank you for teaching me how to floss properly

thank you for suggesting I could stay some nights at the ward if I wanted to

thank you for visiting me at the hospital

thank you for taking control of the situation when our next-door neighbor was shot at

thank you for believing I used my medication responsibly

thank you for showing me there's not that much to fear about getting older

thank you for making me write

thank you for being moved by my works

thank you for telling me it was not ok that I hit you

thank you for getting angry, calling my ex, and making him apologize for the things he said to me

thank you for treating my vertebrae until something was released in me and I laughed and cried with a voice I had never heard before

thank you for making me trust that I can be liked and loved

thank you for giving me a pebble when we were walking on a beach and telling me I could squeeze it whenever was stressed

thank you for nurturing my sense of wonder

thank you for making me see fame is nothing to yearn for

thank you for loving so many of the same books as me

thank you for being the only person I would die for

thank you for being the better version of me

thank you for saying that I only ever talked about myself

thank you for stunning me every time with your kindness

thank you for telling me that what I said to you was the worst thing anyone had ever said to you

thank you for trusting me with your secret

thank you for seeing the importance of aesthetics in everyday life

thank you for telling me to go for the thing that lit up my eyes

thank you for helping me with my panic attack

thank you for pushing me to take shorter showers

thank you for being on my side

thank you for answering my call in the middle of the night

thank you for wanting me to braid your hair and scratch your back

thank you for being the most important thing in my friend's life

thank you for not asking me to be anything that I'm not

thank you for letting me stay at your apartment when I couldn't go home

thank you for believing I could change

thank you for teaching me a craft I can enjoy and develop my whole life

thank you for waiting for me

thank you for saying it wasn't my fault

thank you for telling me about what happened to you

thank you for teaching me how to milk a cow

thank you for never doubting that I wouldn't be telling the truth

thank you for helping me when I got caught between the pigs and the electric fence

thank you for telling me I need to be using bigger shoes

thank you for telling me not to go out in the winter with wet hair

thank you for saying I need to take better care of my teeth

thank you for dressing me warmly in my winter overalls

thank you for playing with us, seemingly tirelessly

thank you for operating my toe

thank you for bringing me lemonade when I was vomiting and seeing little blue and yellow men dancing on my duvet

thank you for being so genuinely interested in me

thank you for not fighting with me when it was hot and we both were hungry and tired

thank you for listening to me when I was going on and on about my break-up

thank you for placing a small gift secretly into my pocket

thank you for teaching me so much about tea culture

thank you for your beautiful and tranquil home that puts my mind at ease

thank you for not spilling my secrets

thank you for lending me money when I lost my job

thank you for letting me cut your hair

thank you for fixing my car

thank you for trusting your child in my care

thank you for paying for my music lessons and art education

thank you for making raku ceramics with us

thank you for inviting us children to your home, offering us cookies and juice, and letting us see how an artist's home can be like

thank you for getting upset because I had lied

thank you for being the gentlest and nicest teacher I had

thank you for running the art school for children, enabling a safe, exciting place with all the smells, pigment jars, papers, and a whole dried pumpkin

thank you for teaching us how to make paper mache and how not to drop the blender into the mixture of paper and water

thank you for asking me to be an assistant teacher

thank you for telling me to use gloves while making lithography, or my fingers would be in ten years twitching involuntarily like yours

thank you for believing I was more than enough

thank you for being there for my friend and helping her with your sense of humor, openness, and compassion to be easier on herself

thank you for running the drawing classes where I found enjoyment again and started to remember why I had wanted to be an artist in the first place

thank you for seeing talent in me when I didn't

thank you for providing us children a beautiful place to visit and learn and treating us not only as children but as interesting, equal human beings

thank you for saying that it's ok to feel that the other children are like another species

thank you for letting me spend so much time in the library

thank you for never saying that my thoughts as a child were too dark and not suitable for someone my age

thank you for letting me knit during your lectures

thank you for admitting that my critique was justified

thank you for treating me kindly even after what I had done to you

thank you for cutting ties with me

thank you for not letting my parent's behavior affect your opinion of me

thank you for not telling my host family what had happened

thank you for telling me I should stop drinking

thank you for breaking up with me before we decided to have children

thank you for letting me stay at your place when I run away from home

thank you for secretly camping with me on the theater roof

thank you for bringing me fresh croissants in the morning when I deserved them the least

thank you for asking what had happened

thank you for cutting my hair

thank you for laughing with me when the situation was too bad for anything else than laughter

thank you for saying I could press charges

thank you for framing my drawings and hanging them on your wall

thank you for rubbing menthol rub on my chest and placing a plate of crushed garlic next to my pillow

thank you for putting your experience into words and writing a book that kept me alive

thank you for bringing laughter and lightness into my life

thank you for taking my health problems seriously

thank you for hugging me and holding me

thank you for saying it's ok to clean the mess tomorrow

thank you for running into the room when I shouted for help

thank you for saying that the work I was making was pretentious and boring

thank you for telling me I could stop hiding

thank you for having tea with me for the last time

thank you for thanking me for leaving you and saying it was the right thing to do

thank you for not blaming me

thank you for going on long walks with me

thank you for listening to me when all I could do was talk

thank you for letting me stay in the hospital room and hold my head on a chest that no longer had a heartbeat until I was ready to leave

thank you for planting a memorial ginkgo biloba tree with me

thank you for telling me not to give up

thank you for not jumping to conclusions

thank you for letting me follow the rules

thank you for telling me I wasn't a good listener

thank you for reading in bed

thank you for saying you are convinced I can achieve anything

thank you for your warm skin and your addictive personal odor

thank you for telling me I should be kinder to my body

thank you for making me uncomfortable

thank you for letting me not participate

thank you for being my friend when I had no other friends

thank you for instantly liking me as much as I instantly liked you

thank you for trusting me enough to put your life in my hands

thank you for crossing the line

thank you for showing me your insecurities

thank you for telling me about the illnesses in our family

thank you for making warm milk with honey to help me sleep

thank you for playing the piano in the evenings after I had gone to bed

thank you for not letting me sit on cold stones and catch a urine infection

thank you for telling me to always cover my lower back when it's cold

thank you for persistently rubbing sun lotion on me

thank you for telling me that the flat part on my skull wasn't caused by standing on my head

thank you for letting me go and see newborn babies in the maternity ward when I was at the hospital because of a lump in my breast

thank you for telling me not to suck and chew on my scarf in the winter because it would then freeze and be disgusting

thank you for waking me up in the middle of the night, so I could see the calf being born

thank you for loving my body

thank you for touching me gently

thank you for saying you would like to crush my boyfriend's kneecaps with a baseball bat after what he did to me

thank you for telling me you were disappointed in me

thank you for sitting with me by the fire

thank you for telling me you're sorry you didn't warn me about my partner early enough

thank you for wanting to make things right with me

thank you for giving me a miniature orthodox icon that I could always have with me

thank you for chanting in the candle-lit hall

thank you for building a community where I finally felt I have come home

thank you for secretly clipping me a frame from a film that I liked and slipping it to me outside the movie theater

thank you for your scientific worldview

thank you for being the worst thing that ever happened to me

thank you for not letting me make you my guru

thank you for making me realize how much I wanted to be alive

thank you for taking me to your family's tiny island and carving me a small boat from pine tree bark

thank you for being one of the few people whose existence makes me feel I'm not existing alone

thank you for such beautiful sounds

thank you for being the one I still miss, every autumn

thank you for helping me question all authority

thank you for never pretending that Santa or god would be real

thank you for being true to yourself and to your beliefs

thank you for defending me from the children who bullied me

thank you for letting me stay indoors and read

thank you for letting me be the pensive and sensitive child I was

thank you for carrying me when I didn't dare to climb the stairs myself because of the gaps between them

thank you for lifting me into the child seat on your bicycle and taking me to feed the ducks on the weekends

thank you for telling my sister to stop annoying me

thank you for not making me finish my food

thank you for not forcing me to go to the deeper pool where my feet couldn't reach the bottom of the pool even though all the other children were already there

thank you for telling me it was about time when I lost my nerve and hit my sister

thank you for still calling me every now and then

thank you for not telling me some things about our family when I was a child

thank you for giving me the buddha-shaped stone you found on the beach

thank you for trying to help me when it was difficult for me to accept any help

thank you for letting me figure things out on my own

thank you for never treating me as a less capable being just because I was a child

thank you for taking off the scary tiger mask and becoming a person again, holding me and telling me the tiger will never come back again

thank you for being there when I drove my bike without training wheels for the first seconds of my life

thank you for waiting for me

thank you for turning on the lights

thank you for your honesty even though it was not what I would have hoped to hear

thank you for not letting me fall

thank you for holding me when I got scared of the fireworks

thank you for sharing my sense of humor, most of the time

thank you for always knowing when I'm being serious and when I'm making fun of myself

thank you for walking home with me

thank you for being the best first boyfriend anyone could have

thank you for not flattening our romantic potential by trying to turn it into reality

thank you for spending a day spontaneously with me

thank you for playing records and introducing me to so much music

thank you for drying me with a towel

thank you for remaining an unattainable fantasy

thank you for taking me to see a film that embarrassed you and impressed me

thank you for defending my right to a non-religious education

thank you for taking me seriously

thank you for being a teacher who was not afraid to speak out about what was right and what was wrong

thank you for never calling me a nerd just because I was intensely interested in everything

thank you for never reacting in a certain way or saying certain things just because that's what people are supposed to do

thank you for thinking independently

thank you for loving me conditionally

thank you for not asking me how I'm doing

thank you for showing me the small, cold lake high up on the mountain

thank you for introducing me to your friends and making me feel welcome

thank you for saying everything would be fine even though we both knew it wouldn't

thank you for saying I'm welcome back anytime

thank you for waiting out the thunderstorm with me

thank you for getting naked and swimming in the river with me

thank you for not trying to convince me to stay

thank you for driving so I could sleep

thank you for saying you were sorry to see me go

thank you for hiding a note in my pocket

thank you for becoming a part of my family

thank you for making me feel alive again

thank you for wearing the mittens I had made

thank you for all your postcards

thank you for asking me to teach you

thank you for being just a memory

thank you for acknowledging you had underestimated me

thank you for being so much like the person I wanted to be that it forced me to start becoming that person

thank you for trying to teach me how to be organized and do one thing at the time

thank you for trying to teach me to live in the moment and not to get ahead of myself

thank you for teaching me things I understood only years later

thank you for keeping your word

thank you for not letting me kill ants with a hammer

thank you for showing me how to pet a cat in a way that the cat doesn't get upset

thank you for letting me take a break

thank you for letting me read books while the others were learning the alphabet

thank you for saying you were wrong to think I don't need encouragement

thank you for bringing us children's books from your work

thank you for braking hard when my sister run in front of your car

thank you for not keeping your distance

thank you for teaching me how to float

thank you for burying with me the crow that had fallen out of its nest

thank you for playing imaginary riding school with me in the forest

thank you for teaching me how to play chess

thank you for trying to teach me over and over again how to jump into the water head first

thank you for forcing me to get up from the snow when I was too drunk to do anything but sleep

thank you for calling my father to come and pick me up in the middle of the night

thank you for sneaking to the outdoor swimming pool with me

thank you for telling me I was being cheated on

thank you for reading my stories

thank you for making me realize I'm not worth less than those who have more money

thank you for warming me up with your body

thank you for inviting me in

thank you for telling me to spit out the horse chestnut

thank you for playing in the fallen maple leaves with me

thank you for teaching me how to be hospitable

thank you for understanding my need to be alone

thank you for laying your head on my chest

thank you for letting me run my fingers through your hair

thank you for kissing your arm when our bodies were so intertwined you thought it was mine

thank you for making me lose all sense of time

thank you for acknowledging the limits of your understanding

thank you for teaching me not to consider myself above or below anyone

thank you for turning around and asking me out

thank you for appreciating my loyalty

thank you for telling other people to shut up when I was trying to say something

thank you for not laughing when my joke wasn't funny

thank you for building me a nest of blankets

thank you for coming back

thank you for bringing me berries at work

thank you for crossing with me a field of sleeping cows

thank you for getting me into such a beautiful mess

thank you for letting us stay all afternoons after school in the your son's room, door locked

thank you for sitting with me in the tar-smelling wooden roller coaster in the closed amusement park in the middle of the night

thank you for making me understand I couldn't have done anything about it because I was just a child

thank you for wading in the river with me

thank you for forcing me to go out

thank you for keeping up the contact when I was too tired to write or call back

thank you for leaving