Hope

To my kids, 

We survived Another Week, but not without a few bumps and tantrums and sky-rocketing blood pressures along the way, but hey, that’s survival. It’s bloody and scarring, but then you have a really good story to tell your grandchildren over a tall glass of lemonade. “My aching knee,” I’ll say. “And good Lord, those hurdles in the fall of 2019.”

And those little freckled towheads will roll their eyes and giggle with a lightness in their soul, because after all, you’ll be their parents and they’ll have inherited your beautiful gift of happy.

I don’t know how long you get to keep your glimmer, but I hope it’s forever. I hope you find a way to fight the good fight, the one that weathers our skin and furrows our brow. The voice that whispers judgment in the name of justice, productivity in the name of responsibility, solemness in the name of respect, anger in the name of discipline.

You’re going to see a lot of things here, you three. In your home and your town and your world, and they’re going to try really hard to steal away that glimmer. They’re going to fight for your attention, seeking to shift your focus daily so you can’t spin and twirl and dance because you’re too busy looking at all that dizzies you.

But Markus – here’s what I want you to do. I want you to keep the glimmer. Let it shine brightly and perfectly, and let it give away your secret… every single day. The world needs the glimmer. It needs light and hope and childhood games and your words. It needs your mistakes and your smiles, the kind where your chin gets wobbly because it’s trying to hold the corners of your mouth down, but then the weight of the smile is too strong – too big – and the corners break free and your face lights up like a firework display.

And I hope you win, sweet babies of mine. I hope your prize is a forever glimmer in your eye and a smile that cannot be unturned. And I hope you find what you seek – storing treasures in your zipped up chest – and remembering to share them with the world the best way you can.

XO,
Mama