Mom was working on daughter's graduation gift since she was 2 — 16 years later, her gift left daughter in tears

A token of encouragement during their milestone moment might mean a lot to a person. A woman's high school graduation token of encouragement had been 16 years in the making when her mom finally handed it to her as a present. The mom had bought the book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss, considered a widely popular milestone, or graduation gift and made her daughter's teachers write in it every year since she was 2 years old. When the 18-year-old finally saw the present, she was in tears, per a video by the mom who goes by @tiesgirl521 on TikTok. The video received over 1.2 million views.

The mom shared that apart from a car and a trip to Europe, she had one more special gift for her daughter. "This is something I have been working on since you were 2 years old. When you open the first page, you'll open it and you'll know why," she told her daughter. "This is the book, the package that you bring every year to your teachers." The daughter told her mom that one of her teachers had pointed out that her mom was doing something really sweet for her, but she was not going to tell her about it. Each of her teachers had written something encouraging about her in the book, starting from her speech therapist when the daughter, Sofia, was just 2 years old.

When Sofia read the first message, she immediately started crying. "Ever since, I've been giving it to your teachers every year. You would start school and every teacher who has loved you has written in this book." Sofia kept crying as she read further. The mom wanted to show her daughter that many people had loved her throughout the years. One of the teachers had written, "Continue to be yourself. Ask all the questions you deserve to know and go enjoy these times." "I waited 16 years to give this to my daughter for her graduation from high school! I’m so grateful to all the teachers who took the time to write in this book over the years! Such a beautiful gift. I hope she treasures it forever," the caption read.

@mikailamagalyn wrote, "Our educators deserve to be compensated fairly. They make such an impact and I’d pay higher taxes if it means teachers and other educators get paid better." @tfdp11 commented, "As a teacher who has signed many of these, I absolutely love seeing her reaction and appreciation! So beautiful! Congratulations to your daughter!" @hala0531 remarked, "I started this too with my son and I’m taking pictures with all his teachers, OT, SLP and will be pasting them next to their notes. I bought it off Etsy and with more paper added because we have a long journey ahead, he’s only 5."

The mom made a follow-up video to thank people for all the love they showed her daughter and her family in the previous video. The mom hoped that she had inspired at least some people to purchase the book and start a similar tradition for their own child. "I highly recommend it because my kid loved it. Yes, it was a labor of love for 16 years, bringing the book to teachers and they were all very gracious to do it." The caption read, "Thank you so, so much! Buy a copy through my link and start this incredible project for your child! It’s never too late to give them such a memorable keepsake!"

You can follow @tiesgirl521 on TikTok for more lifestyle content.