Dear Sutton,
These days in your 20-month life span your biggest worries have been if someone takes your “bebe” doll or if you have enough Happy Yogis to feed a small army. While you haven’t even communicated a full sentence, I’ve continued to have fear and worry for you since I first heard your heartbeat.
It’s complicated out there and before you have the ability to really tell me how you feel, here are my 10 wishes for you as you continue on this exciting journey of life.
1. Be an Includer not an Excluder. Everything is “mine” these days with you. You’ll get over that. Girls can be mean, you should set a precedent to include not exclude. Other people’s ideas are often better than your own. As much as I love you, you’re not better than anyone else. You are special, you’re important, but you must collaborate to succeed. Everyone is important.
2. Don’t Lose Your Fearlessness. When we’re at the playground you always choose to climb to get down the giant slide rather than the nice petite one. You nearly give me a heart attack. But the truth is that you are a brave little gal. That will work wonders when you’re a CEO…or skydiving (something your mom will never do.)
3. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone. Travel frequently. Live somewhere new. If it hadn’t been for your granny pushing me out the door to move to New York after college where I didn’t know a soul or have a job, I would have never met your daddy. It’s important to step out of the status quo and try new things in your life. Don’t settle for the obvious choice.
4. You Don’t have to Choose. As you drive your Minnie Mouse car around the house AND want to push your baby stroller too — you refuse to choose (As much as I beg you to.) In life, I hope you don’t have to choose one thing over another. Whether that’s playing volleyball AND being class president OR advancing your career AND having a family. You can always find a way to have it all.
5. Find Your Passion. Currently it’s Bubble Guppies. When you find something you love, pursue it with all your heart. Whether that’s art that you turn into a career as a graphic designer. Or technology, you can become an app programmer. Stick with what you love, and you’ll never feel like you’re working. If it continues to be a love for underwater sea creatures then it’s fabulous that you discovered it at such a young age you wanted to be a marine biologist.
6. Define What Being a Girl Means to You. Be Girly. Or don’t. It’s up to you to be who you want to be — so if you identify as a girl who loves pink and princesses, and that turns into shoes and purses that’s perfectly alright. Embrace it. If you are more a tomboy that could wear Nike shorts and ponytails for the rest of your life, then rock it. Then again you can always be the princess that plays softball. Don’t let anyone else tell you how to dress or how to be. You’re already telling me that when you rip off my darling hairbows I spent a small fortune on before you were born.
7. Have Guy Friends. Sure boys will have cooties for the better part of your adolescence. However it’s important to remember that with guy friends they share a unique bond to be on the lookout for the “bad guys” and steer you clear of them. And with that being said…
8. Don’t Date the “Bad Guys.” They are only trouble. The party images fades and gets old. Just trust me on that one.
9. Don’t Forget Your Girlfriends. Ever. They will be the ones there for you even after dad and I are gone. They pick you up when you’re down when only a true life-long friend would understand. Never lose sight of them and hold them dear. And if you do lose touch with one of them, get them back in your life pronto.
10. I Will Always be There For You. Yes… you will soon be a teenager and stomp your feet and tell me to leave you alone. I will. My mom did that for me too. But trust me that as silly of mistake you make, nothing will break my bond. You’ve got me forever.
Love,
Mama
