Thank You Mom and Dad

Thank you for understanding that to a child quality time occurs in the context of quantity time. Thank you both for believing time with my mom was more valuable than a newer car, nicer home, fancier clothes and high-end vacations. Thanks Dad for supporting my mother in "staying home" to raise me despite incredibly tight finances. Thanks Mom for giving me the best hours of your day everyday. Thank you Mom for demonstrating through your actions that I was worth your time. Thank you for operating with the assumption that I would value our time together more than an immaculate house. Thank you Mom for investing in the person I would become before investing a career that would have paid better than a house with four kids. Thank you for turning a deaf ear to the rude comments of people who thought our family was too large.  Thank you for teaching me to appreciate the "happy noise" that children make rather than deriding it as a motivation for birth control. Thank you both for teaching me the difference between needs and wants and value of things that money doesn't buy.