What a year. We started it by getting your first tattoo, matching ones on our arms. Connected by starlight.
My beautiful sun, and I am the moon. It feels like the most perfect symbol of us in this season of life.
It has been a year of resilience for you. There were moments when you could have stepped away, paused, or given up a little. You almost did not go back to finish your second semester of college, but you gritted your teeth, figured it out, and marched straight through those storms. Sometimes it was not very pretty, but you kept a curiosity about you, and an eagerness to see what was around the next corner. I am so very proud of you.
My oldest. I often think about how lucky Griffin is to have his big sister. His built-in friend. His second mother. His advice-sounding board. His loving, occasionally nagging caretaker when I am not around to nag.
But you did not have that. You had me (okay, and Papa… Grandparents, etc. But still!). I was your playmate. I was not the best Little People player, okay? But we were buddies. And in so many ways, you taught me how to be a mom. My little wise-beyond her years baby who always looked around, assessed the situation, and decided on the best course of action.
You have taught me so much this year. About endurance. About showing up even when it is hard. About how a person can bend without breaking. I watched you face things that would have flattened many people, and you kept going. You kept growing. And somehow, even through all of that, you stepped into leadership and responsibility and confidence in ways that still leave me in awe.
I am awed by your master lists, your lists of lists, your organization, your ability to be so disciplined about what you want to achieve. You make goals, but you are not married to them, and that flexibility is going to serve you so well in life. You think things through so thoroughly, and I love that about you. And I would encourage you, just a little, to be spontaneous too. There is so much out there to explore, and I know you will do it with caution, but also with joy.
You will always be my sun. Steady, bright, growing into your own gravity. And I will always be your moon, a little farther back now, but still pulling for you, still connected by that light.
Happy 20th!
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”
— Albert Camus
“Sometimes the smallest steps in the right direction end up being the biggest steps of your life.”
— Naeem Callaway
“You are stronger than you know.”
— A. A. Milne
Comments on this entry are closed.