Dear Dr. Laura,
I know you get many emails like mine everyday so I hope today and everyday, you are reminded all our messages come from a pure and genuine place of immeasurable gratitude…
I've listened to you for many, many, many years - and I can't begin to describe the influence you have had on my life. It's almost a game listening to you now - I predict your advice to callers - not so I can pat myself on the back when I'm (always) right (haha!) - but so I can continue building my confidence and decision-making abilities for myself and my family.
I just listened online to the call you had with Cathy from 6.24.11 about the frustrations she has in wanting the "best" life for her son - a son who has told her he wants to enlist in the military. With tears streaming down my face, I remembered the moment my son - my brave 11 year old little man - told me about his hopes of being an officer one day. God bless my boy, he was so gentle with me. He didn't TELL me what his dream was, he asked how I would "feel" about it.
I was driving at the time, and he was sitting behind me. My daughter (13), was also in the backseat and she could see me through the rear-view mirror - I saw her smiling.
I said the quickest prayer to my faithful God for wisdom, tapped into my "Dr. Laura no-nonsense" file cabinet, and told my son this:
"I am not surprised and I would be so crazy proud of you. I've always known you had the courage of Daniel, the faith of Peter, and a heart like Christ himself... I was just waiting to see when you would realize this for yourself."
Dr. Laura, I am a single mom. I have made many mistakes. You even told me one time I had every right to kick myself for those mistakes, but it is NOT right to KEEP kicking myself for those mistakes. I have to do what I can, with what I have, to build the best life possible for my kids. I think this conversation with my son is proof I have -finally- been able to do that.
I am sure there will come a day I will have to send my son off to somewhere I don't want him to go. I will cry. I will worry. BUT, he will know mine are not tears of sadness, they are tears of joy that he has become a MAN of honor and courage, and while I might worry for his physical safety, he will know there is no one on this planet more proud of him than his mommy.
Thank you Dr. Laura - for your boldness, courage, and endurance - after all these years. Some of us have the same disgust you have with the kinds of decisions our society as a whole is making, and we are really trying to turn things around…not just for our own families now, but for every generation that will come after us.
May God continue to bless you and keep your son in His protective hands.
Sonia
