Mommy,

You know I’m not the emotional kind of girl, and I find it hard to express what’s in my heart. But not this time. This one is for you.

You’re a wife, a mother, a grandma, a businesswoman, a cook, and a best friend…

Life wasn’t easy for you, starting from the age of 6 when you lost your dad, and on to the million challenges you have faced. Yet, you always had this indescribable strength and positivity. You were the perfect example of a fighter… fighting for better days, for happier moments and bigger smiles.

You have taught Henry and I to accept people as they are, and never to judge ANYONE. Your words still linger: “You never know what is really going on in someone’s home”. You made us really see that even if a person seems strong, they might be broken into a thousand pieces. And from that perspective, you really raised us on acceptance and respect. Never in my life have I heard you bad-mouth or judge or even criticize someone. So, thank you for being this good of an example.

You also made me believe in Love. You know how in movies they say that Love doesn’t exist? And how girls swear that they would never fall in love again? Well, I never believed in those movies, and I never listened to these girls. For me, I had Dad and you as an example. I had two grown-ups who acted as high-school lovers every single day. You used to (and still do) play together, laugh, fight, and then make-up. So, I had every reason in the world to believe in Love. And then I found it.

You were and still are an inspiration especially in your hard work. When people ask me how I got into the fashion world, I always tell them that part of it is because you inspired me to do so, without you noticing! And it really is true. On a less serious note, when I was a little girl, I used to look at your pictures modelling at AUB and think: Wow! I hope that one day I will become just like her.

Now that I’m a mother, and that ‘one day’ has come, I look at Ayla and again, I think: I hope that one day I’ll be as good of a mother to her, as my mother was to me. I aspire to have your softness yet strength, your patience yet perseverance, and your heart… Your pure heart.

Happy mothers’ day mama. I love you.

Your Nounou