My Greatest Compliment

During my long experience in this thing called Music, I have received quite a number of compliments (whether deserved or not is another matter!), for which I am grateful; however, the most coveted event connected to my adventure in music was a statement made by my mother:
After my first formal performance, a brief one, made before a small audience ( I was about eleven), and upon returning home after the occasion, I found a card on my little table in my bedroom with a five dollar bill enclosed - both of my parents were still wrestling with their new language after their move to America from Europe, and my mother's choice of words, I can assure you, improved geometrically as time went on; however, at THIS time, she wrote:
"I am proud - you is mine boy."
No compliment has ever meant more to me.