Thanks, Mom

To celebrate Mother's Day, the team at PAXnews.com is looking back on their travel experiences with Mom, offering some long-overdue gratitude for her patience and understanding:

Dear Momma,

Thanks for playing tourist with me in my own city when you visit. Thanks also, for taking me out for high tea (because you’re never too old for a tea party), especially since you let me eat your leftover scone after I devoured my own, even though I'm sure you would have saved it to enjoy later. And thanks for checking my teeth for stray tea leaves from across the table, and then for flashing me your beautiful smile so I could do the same for you.

- Love, Terrilyn

Dear Mom,

Thanks for booking the hotel with the waterpark and the arcade, even though you and dad are not waterslide or arcade people. Thanks also, for enduring the constant requests from the backseat on countless summer trips, including bathroom breaks, food stops and new batteries for Walkmans and Game Boys. And finally, thanks for passing on the travel bug.

- Love, Blake

Dear Mama,

Thanks for not losing it that one summer when I wet the mattress (being way too old to wet the mattress) because I was too scared to leave the camper at night to use the washroom. Thanks also for spending the next day washing and airing the mattress, and for telling my brothers that mattress washing was ‘just something you do’ on vacation. Oh, and thanks for getting up and coming to the washroom with me, every night, for the rest of the trip.

- Love, Britney