Mom,

What did it take to carry your infant son to the hospital, lose him to a misdiagnosis, then walk out empty-handed? How did you go home and find the will to get up the next day? Four children later, after coming to a new country without knowing the language, putting yourself through nursing school at night, fighting silent battles you couldn’t speak to a soul about … what did it take to walk out of another hospital without an infant daughter?

What did it take on the night Korea split and your father was dragged off … what did it take, as an 8-year-old girl, to walk away from your burning home and alone into a war?

What did it take to protect, defend and encourage your mixed race child in a white homogenous Middle-American town? What did it take to hug her and tell her she was beautiful every time she got dirt thrown at her?

Dandridge as a child with her mom.

Courtesy of Merle Dandridge

One of the great gifts and privileges of my life is watching you walk with courage and enthusiasm every day. You can still take time to listen to what the trees have to say to you when the wind blows them and makes them talk. You can still dance and sing at the top of your lungs. You still hold the magic that makes all the deer in the neighborhood come out at dusk and wait to nuzzle you goodnight.

Mom, I want you to know that I hold my head up to the sun and feel it’s rays lovingly graze me, I still dance with abandon, I still plant things just to love them and watch them love me back with a beautiful blossom … and I still get up every single time I get knocked down. And I learned it all from you.

Love,

Merle

Courtesy of Merle Dandridge

Merle Dandridge stars as Grace “Gigi” Greenleaf in the hit series Greenleaf on OWN.

This is part of a special series, “Thank You, Mom,” highlighting letters of gratitude from celebrities and notable writers leading up to Mother’s Day. To view the full collection, which will be added to throughout the month of May, go here.