Today is my 33rd birthday.

I'm not announcing this because I want to get a bunch of "Happy Birthday" emails - but rather because I want to take this opportunity to thank my mom.

Three years ago, after my dad passed away, I came to the realization that although we children might not always see eye-to-eye with our parents (and in some cases such as mine, move thousands of miles away from them), they are the most precious thing we have in our lives. Too often though, we only truly grasp that after they're gone. And we certainly never thank them enough or tell them enough times that we love them.

But in those times when we do lose a parent, we are often forced to look back onto our childhood and teenage years and review them - not through the smoke-colored glasses of teenage angst and anger, but through the more sober ones, tinted by adulthood.

And we see how much love and dedication our parents poured into raising us, how much they sacrificed, and how they traded their free and careless lives against one filled with responsibility, financial burdens, and a rythm dictated by their kids.

My parents were travellers. Long before they had my sister and me, they criss-crossed Europe and Africa, and in the early 60s, they spent 3 years in South Africa, living and working there. I grew up in a house permeated with mementos from that time - a zebra skin on the living room wall, a drum next to the sofa, some antelope horns in the office, an ivory instrument in the stairway, a leopard fur as throw cover for the bed, and countless ceremonial masks from various idigenious African tribes all over the house.

Looking back now, I think that time in Africa really shaped them, and moving back to Switzerland made them miss it terribly.

But they gave it all up when they decided to have children - knowing that their native Switzerland would be politically more stable, safer, and provide us kids with a better education system.

I never thanked them for this sacrifice. As a matter of fact, it never occured to me until 3 years ago. I will never have the chance to thank my dad, but I do have the chance to thank my mom.

So, mom - whether you happen to read this or not: Thanks for making this sacrifice. Thank you for those hours of pain and labor you went through 33 years ago to bring me into this world. And thanks for taking care of me for the 20 years after that.

For worrying; for telling me "no" when I was about to do something stupid; and for saying "well done" when I came home with a good grade. For cooking all those delightful meals I wish I could replica, but know I never truly will. For knitting until the wee hours of the morning to make me a new doll, after I had lost my old one at the store and shed those bitter tears only a 3-year old is capable of. And for letting me take all those "stray" cats home, feed them, and then quietly return them back to their proper homes.

Thanks for all those moments of intense happiness you gave me and all the things you so selflessly gave up to make them happen.

I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay you.

But for anybody out there reading this - take a minute to pick up the phone, call your parents and simply tell them how much you love them.

It's the least you can do.

And as a foot note: Happy Birthday to my friend Luke. How ironic that you posted this image...