-Sigh- No more Oprah :(

Well the world said goodbye to the Oprah show yesterday. I, for one, am really gonna miss it. I started watching when I was 18, on the very first day with the very first episode, and what can I say she spoke to me. I never had a mother that talked to me. She never really taught me about life or how to navigate through it. She always was very uncomfortable with talking to me. I remember when it was time for "the talk", she told me they would teach me in school and if I had any questions I should "ask the school nurse". End of discussion. So I learned what I could from friends and their mothers.

Then there was Oprah. I learned how to be a better person, I learned how to be a better mother. I learned about gratitude, forgiveness, charity, validation, worthiness, love, and kindness. I learned that all that reading I did and still do was a GOOD thing and not a "lazy, waste of time" like my mother told me. I learned I was worthy just because I was born, and I was enough just the way I am. I learned to do better when I knew better, and that the greatest gift I could give my kids is to have my face light up when they walked in the room. I learned that God first speaks to you in a whisper, then thumps you in the head, then hits you with a brick, and slams you into the brick wall so you better learn to listen to the whisper!! I learned so many things that I can't even remember them all at once, but when I need the lessons they are there waiting.

For 25 years she has been the mother, the teacher, the friend I always wanted and needed when I was a kid. She filled that void in my life, and now like a mother she has pushed me out of the nest to stand on my own. To make my way in the world with what she has taught me. It's funny that someone I've never met face to face, who doesn't even know I exist, has given me more than the person that gave birth to me. But really that doesn't matter, what matters is that I was given the gift and intend to honor it by being the best me I can be.

So thank you Oprah for being my mom. I love you and I hope I make you proud! Keep in touch, okay?

Love, Mickey