Love Notes & Such (and other sweet things)

love notes and such.


Valentine's Day was yesterday. And I was so lucky to have little men in my life who adore the holiday. They love the candy, the cards from friends, cooking up messes and sweet notes hidden under pillows. The Youngest and I made cake, then we helped everyone eat it. I also was in my Youngest's classroom and I could see, first hand all the giggling and excitement as they rolled around, giddy with the chance to celebrate sugar (and love).  As I was working with a few children on the floor, several of the girls flopped down next to me. Oblivious to my presence they were in a heated debate about who, in the classroom, they would draw a picture of and who, among these, they would draw as Fat. I was surprised, yet not. Rather than be upset about the messages they must have already heard as 6 year olds, I wrote a letter instead.

So here is a little note of love to all the daughters in this world. To all of them as they inherit this world along side my boys.

Dear Sweet Daughter,

I want you to know, first off, how much you are loved and how important you are in this world. As you walk out our front door onto the streets and in and out of school and on into your life, you will love a thousand times over. You will feel happiness and love and sorrow and anger. Over the years of your life you will watch the world change in ways I could not even imagine. You will weep when children lose their lives and you will dance when you see absolute moments of pure joy and dauntless acts of love. You will hold dreams so dear to your heart that it will feel that all the world will shatter into a million bits if they don't come to fruition. And perhaps, someday, you will hold your own child in your arms and know that there is nothing as sweet and lovely as the breathe of a newborn baby sleeping soundly in your arms. There are so many paths you will walk that I cannot imagine all of them for you. But I want you to have this one gift. This one gift to place under your pillow at night and to keep on the shelf of your heart as you walk through your day. The one gift is the knowledge of just how perfect you are.

I want you to know this. I want you to know that who you are and how this Earth formed you, and then placed you to walk upon this world, is absolutely perfect. You are perfect. Your body is perfect. Your heart is perfect and the way you love is perfect.

I am not saying don't ever change and grow. I am not saying don't ever listen to the counsel of wise and generous friends when they know you are not being true to yourself, or that you are being unkind. But I want you to know that this Earth formed you to BE just as a young girl is, which is to BE. And, when you are older, you will be a woman, and even then, after all the way your body has changed and grown, you will still BE just as perfect as you are now. I want you to know this because as you make your way in the world, when you walk out the front door, there are many people in world who are going to tell you that you aren't. That you aren't perfect because your Body is not perfect. That your Body is not perfect and that you can't do all things you imagined wanting to be and hoping to do in this world, because your body doesn't look the way others want it to look. It is so very easy for your own inner voice, that was once dauntless and loving to so many others, to begin dissecting your own physical beauty, and lay worthless your own value and the intrinsic part you have in this world.

So please, don't waste needless energy and hours tearing apart the body you have. Love it and appreciate it for what it is. And march forward in your day, in your life with the knowledge, that the Earth formed you to inherit this world, and that is already enough weight on your shoulders.

XXOO