to my beautiful boy (an open letter)
Dear Little One,
You’re so small in my arms. Your tiny hands wrap around my fingers as I take you in. I do my best to memorize all your little features exactly as you are in this moment. You have your daddy’s sneaky little dimple — the one I prayed you’d get from him. The one that you can both disarm me with in a single smile; a smile like sunshine.
I never fully understood how quickly time flies, and how precious it really is, until you were born. It won’t be long before you’re laughing and walking, and we’re chasing you everywhere. We will be hugging you and sending you out into the world before we know it. I know it’ll go by faster than we realize because it already is.
I look at you and wonder who you’ll be and what your life will be like. I can’t wait to walk alongside you as you discover yourself and the world around you. For now, I’ll hold you in the shelter of my arms and whisper my hopes for you like lullabies.
My hopes, wishes, and prayers for you in this life, my sweet boy…
Create a life you love, surrounded by people who love and are loved by you. I hope you have the pleasure of falling in love with your life over and over again through the years.
Have the courage to let your feet take you wherever you want to go in this world, but always know you’re way back home.
Find a beautiful, real, and mutual love with someone you love as much as you like. It’s a rare kind of love, but it does exist, so hold onto it and don’t be too proud to fight for it when you find it.
Always have the eyes and heart to see magic, beauty, and hope in this world.
Remember how to play and keep your heart young forever, even after you grow up.
Learn the value of losing, celebrate the glory of winning, and stay humble and kind through it all.
Learn from your mistakes. Never stop taking chances and betting on yourself. Your dad and I will always bet on you, believe in you, and be there to cheer you on.
Take whatever darkness and pain this world tries to throw at you, because it will, and turn it into something beautiful.
Never give up and never surrender. No matter how one ends, every day is a chance to rise again like the sun; to carry your light out of the darkness of the night before and begin again. It’s not about how many times you fall, but that you get back up again.
Fight fiercely for yourself and the people and things that matter most to you.
May your voice be strong and your words kind. Words, especially paired with actions, have the power to touch the deepest parts of a soul and change the world.
Stay true to yourself. Be unapologetically YOU and don’t dim your light or settle for less. You are always enough and never too much, exactly as you are. Don’t be afraid to keep growing, changing, and reinventing yourself along the way.
Ask for help when you need it. The people who genuinely love you will always show up for you, support you, and love you in the best and worst of times. They will never consider you a burden or a bother. Don’t forget to do the same in return.
Something doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful. The most beautiful moments in life are often also messy and almost always imperfect.
You can’t control what other people say, do, or think. You will be the hero in someone’s story and the villain in someone else’s at one point or another in your life. All you can do is be responsible for your own thoughts, actions, and words toward yourself and others.
Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up and pull back to move forward. Be willing to do so when you need to.
Stay open - to listening, to learning, to growing, to understanding, to loving, to new experiences.
Surround yourself with people who inspire, support, love, challenge, and believe in you. Learn from them and love them well. They will end up being the greatest influences in your life, so choose those people wisely and experience as much life with them as you can.
Always follow your heart, but don't forget to take your head with you. The two aren’t enemies of each other and you can only have inner peace and balance if you allow both to rule equally in your life.
Above all else, may you know that you are unconditionally loved and accepted. You are a product of two people wholeheartedly in love with each other, and only the best things come out of love. Looks like that’s you, kid.
love always,
mom + dad
