Thank You, Mummy and Papa

          My parents are the best.  Not in the way that every kid says their parents are the best because it would be wrong to say anything else.  My parents actually are the best.  They have raised me to be the woman I am today, and they have given me every opportunity I could ask for by always putting my needs before theirs.  I can't even remember a time when I was told "No, you can't have that."  You might think that makes me a spoiled brat, but you're wrong.  In addition to never denying me anything, my parents also taught me the value of everything such that I never asked for anything superfluous.  Beyond teaching me the value of money, they also taught me how important it is to always be kind to everyone, to never give up on family, to never back down from a challenge, to always be honest, to let 24 hours pass if I'm mad about something before dealing with it, to get through tough times together, to always give everything my 100%, to recognize there are many people in the world who need help, and to help them.  Without these values, I wouldn't be the person I am today.  I wouldn't have gotten a scholarship to attend UNC-Chapel Hill.  I wouldn't have graduated from Emory Law School with honors and without any loans.  I wouldn't have landed a job at a great law firm in Greensboro.  And I, for sure, wouldn't have gotten my first paycheck at my law firm a few days ago.

          In the Indian tradition, it is custom to give your parents your first paycheck.  It shows respect for all they have done for you, but it is not an attempt to pay them back for what they have done. I could give my parents every single paycheck I get for the rest of my life, and I would not even come close to equaling the effort and love they have put into me.  I still wanted to do something though, so I got my mom and dad Northface jackets with my first paycheck.  I wanted to tell them how much I love them and how lucky I feel to have been raised by them. 

 

 Thank you, Mummy and Papa!