To My Dearest Daughter,
Let me just start out by saying how much I love you. I haven’t met you–but I know I love you. You are the greatest blessing life has given me, and I want to give the world to you in return.
1. I promise to protect you from what I can, and be your saving grace from the things I can’t.
2. I promise to support you in each and every decision you make, regardless of my own opinions. Whichever path you decide to take, I will stand beside you, tall and proud.
3. I promise to show you the world. I’ll show you the lives of others, take you to other cities, and let you experience other cultures. No matter how old you get, the world will always be your playground.
4. I promise to teach you what being independent truly means. It is possible to find happiness in isolation. All you have to do is be truly, genuinely, and unapologetically content with your own company.
5. I promise to teach you how to respect others, and how to find joy in exploring the differences that might exist between you and them. It is these idiosyncrasies that make every person unique.
6. I promise to teach you that there is more to life than life, and that knowing where you want to go is not the same thing as knowing how to get there.
7. I promise to teach you to sing until you lose your voice and to dance until you fall down in a fit of laughter. And when you do, I will show you how to pick yourself back up again.
8. I promise to teach you that it is okay to cry. Crying is not a sign of weakness, but a sign that we acknowledge ourselves–and our emotions–for who we really are.
9. I promise to teach you to live in the moment, while also showing you how to document, journal, and record. Even though you can’t transcribe some of life’s best moments, you can always relive the best memories through videos, pictures, and diaries.
10. I promise to teach you why it’s okay to be selfish sometimes. You will not find the things you want in life in the place where complacency leads you.
11. I promise to teach you how the smallest bit of kindness goes such a long way. Nice people may finish last, but that’s because they’re the only ones who really make it to the end.
12. I promise to teach you that “perfect” is really just a silly, made up word, and that what’s on the inside is so much more valuable than anything on the outside.
13. I promise to teach you how to trust. When you have your heart broken, I promise to teach you how to trust again.
14. I promise to teach you that self-worth and self-confidence are not mutually exclusive.
15. I promise to teach you how to love unconditionally—always remember you can love others AND yourself.
My darling daughter, I can promise you all of these things because they are what your grandmother does for me. She is my best friend, my therapist, my punching bag, my savior, and my world. She is my everything, and I promise to be this for you one day, too.
Loving you already,
Mom