A Letter to My Babies

Dear Madeline and Nolan,

I am writing you this letter because I hope that you will one day read it and know how much you are truly loved.

From the moment I met both of you, I was in love. I never understood the instant, unconditional love parents have for their children, until I had you guys. You were both so precious, and amazed me as you knew exactly who I was. I was Mommy. You felt secure as I held you for the first time. You were comforted by me as I was quickly able to interpret your cries and give you what you wanted.

You are both growing up so fast. Madeline you are a handful of a toddler, and Nolan, you are such a happy little baby. I wish I could hit the "slo-mo" button at times and just savor every single moment that much more.

I have high hopes for you kiddos in the future. I hope that I can teach you about all kinds of things.

Love

I hope that the two of you will understand how much you are loved by everyone around you- daddy and I, your grandparents, aunts and uncles, and each other. I hope, that later on when you find that special someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, you will love them wholeheartedly. Yes, there will be bumps along the road to finding this person, but know that I will always be here if you need some advice or someone to talk to. Madeline, I hope you become a young lady who is self confident, compassionate, and the type of woman who expects nothing less than the characteristics of a gentleman in the man she marries. Nolan, I hope that you will posses the characteristics of a gentleman. That you will be respectful and kind to all women, and will honor and cherish your future wife.

Education

Education is extremely important to your future. I hope you both will value your education, and will learn as much as you can. I hope you enjoy going to school, not only for socializing, but because you enjoy learning new things. I am a firm believer that you learn something new everyday, and you are never too old to learn. I am excited to see the excitement in your faces when you tell me what you learned in school. I will be here to help you with your homework and school projects, and I hope you will come to me just to tell me how your day went.

Success and Failures

I hope that you will celebrate your hard work when you are successful in life. You will work hard for your achievements, and you should be proud of the things you accomplish. I hope you will be humbled by the things you have and not be envious of the things you don't. I hope that you will be able to embrace the challenges that come your way. You may not be successful at everything, and you may fail at some things, and that's OK. I will still be proud of your efforts.

There are so many other things I am both excited and worried about you experiencing in your lives. I hope you will be able to have confidence in your self to stand up for your religious beliefs, to say no to negative peer pressure. I want you to know that Mommy will always be there for you. You can talk to me about anything, no matter how tough the topic is, or embarrassing you think the conversation might be. I hope that we will have the kind of relationship where you feel comfortable coming to me about anything.

I love you guys more than anything in the world!

Love,

Mommy

G: Growing Up

My husband's 10 year high school reunion is this year, and it has really got me thinking about my own high school memories and adventures. I'm sure most stories would be similar to many, "I went to class, took notes, hung out with friends, stayed after school for extra curricular activities, and then came home."

I have certainly learned some life lessons in my journey in growing up, a lot of which I wish I knew then what I know now. If I could go back and give myself a head's up of what's in store, I think I definitely would.



At a church work camp


Dear high school Michelle,

You do not give yourself enough credit. You are cooler than you think you are. Sure you're not real close with the "popular" group, but you do have a lot of friends in a lot of different groups. You're "true" friends will stick with you, and they are completely amazing.

Academically, you do pretty well for yourself. You will struggle a little in your math classes, but you will make up for that with being really successful in your science classes. Challenge yourself to stick with those difficult classes, you can do well in them.

At times, you will be pressured to partake in activities you don't want to participate in (like drinking and smoking, and having sex). You will feel like your "friends" won't think you're cool, or that you may get made fun of, but they won't. You stick up for yourself and are able to say no on so many occasions, and you will look back and be proud of the decisions you made.

You have a lot of guy friends but don't realize the intention behind the attention you get from them. There will be boys in your life that you really like, and really want to date. They will break your heart as they lead you on, making you think they like you back, and then date other girls. You will be crushed, but you will turn out OK. You will learn a lot about relationships from your friendships with these boys. One of your friends will ask you out your senior year, but you probably should go with your gut instinct of thinking it will be a bad idea. And when you're at his house and you get an unexpected phone call from another boy, who says he is in town on leave, you probably should go see that boy.

These four years are tough. You sometimes wonder if you're going to make it through high school, and if people will even remember you. You will have a lot of great memories of high school, with a few not so good ones. People are mean, rumors will be spread, and boys will hurt you, but Michelle, you are one tough chick. Take these bad things in stride and learn from them. These things will teach you how to stick up for what you believe in, and know that it's OK if it's not what everyone else believes in. These challenges and obstacles are bumps in the road, and you will get through them. You are a really strong person.

Love,

26-year-old-Michelle