Hey there, (yes, you!)
I want you to know just how much I love you, and how much you are loved. This journey through life will have its many trials, and the road is long, but you were made for better things and have the endurance and capacity for great growth and joy in the years ahead. When your friend asks you “If not NOW, then WHEN?” I’ll bet you never thought it would be our new life motto, or how much that one statement would change our life forever. So why wait? Listen to your inner voice when it tells you you’ve outgrown your surroundings. Listen to your heart when it tells you you’re being mistreated. Listen to your friend when they tell you that you have the potential to be better, to be more than what you are. Be kind to yourself in sadness, and be gentle with yourself when you make mistakes, but always always always keep going! You have the power to create, to shape the world around you, to turn what you have only dreamed about into a reality.
Your voice, which you use to sing, laugh, and often cry has found new strength in the future in the words we use to speak up for ourselves and with other people who have struggled just like we have. Your courage to try new things has led to conquering topics you’d never thought we could master (Math! Chemistry! Pharmacology!)! Your nurturing heart has found its path and purpose in healing others physically and mentally. Your artistic spirit has found an outlet in the doodles on our notebooks, in the paintings we make for our home, in the baked goods we make for our neighbors and friends, in the poems we write in cards to loved ones. Your compassion and empathy for others, once used to take advantage of your time and energy, have opened our eyes to past hurts so they can be healed. You will cobble together the broken pieces of ourselves we thought were shattered forever, and mold them into something beautiful. You will take an old canvas, one given to you a bit bent, damaged and neglected, and paint your own story. OUR story. You may struggle, you may strive and fight obstacles, but we, one day, will THRIVE. I wish I could express all the ways your life will be forever changed. All I can say now is I love who I am, and it’s because of YOU. I love you, KEEP GOING!
~SS
