It hasn’t been long since I found out you’re going to be in this world, but it feels like I already know you. It feels like I’ve known you my whole life.
When I think about you, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed. There’s so much to teach you and so much for us to do together, but no way of knowing if there are enough days to experience it all.
Though you’ll soon have hopes and dreams of your own, I want to take a few selfish minutes to focus on my hopes and dreams. The ones I have for you.
Little boy, I pray you’ll always need me. I know becoming a mom will be an experience I won’t trade for anything – though I’m certain my new job will have its moments. You’ll need me so you can eat. You’ll need me when you can’t sleep. You’ll need me to bandage up your scrapes and kiss them until they’re better. You’ll need me when the dark scares you, the kids at school aren’t nice, or you’re not feeling well.
And I’ll always be there. I just hope you’ll need me. When you’re 15 and the thought of being seen with your parents is repulsive, or at 20 when the person closest to your heart abruptly shifts from being me to being someone else’s daughter… I pray you’ll need me then, too. Because I will always need you.
I hope you’ll be confident like your father and bypass all the insecurities of your mother. I hope you’ll go for the things you want in life, stand up for yourself, and never be afraid of who you are. When others give up, I pray you’ll stand strong and defend what’s right.
When you meet the one who will steal you away from me, I hope you’ll safeguard your heart. If you’re like me, your emotions will get you down if you let them. If someone breaks your heart – as people often do – I hope you’ll know the pain won’t last.
I hope you’ll discover all the reasons I fell in love with your daddy. I could sit and tell you, but it would take far too many hours of your precious day. Hours I’d rather you spend with him, figuring it out for yourself.
You’ll play hide and seek in our beloved home, where you’ll find out your dad is really stealthy. He’ll tell you jokes that prove he’s goofy and embarrassing, but you’ll also learn he’s really funny. When he cooks for you, you’ll understand that he’s caring enough to give your mother a break. You’ll experience how optimistic he is when he comes up with solutions to your broken toys. During your adventures together, you’ll see he’s full of wonder. And hopefully, you’ll borrow those traits from him.
I hope you’ll take a few things from me too. My need for organization and structure to balance out the uncertainty of the world, or my imagination so the Lego structures you make will be one of a kind. I hope you’ll be caring and gentle like me, yet unafraid like your father.
Maybe you’ll play basketball, even if your parents are far too short to do so. Maybe you’ll be creative like me, or work tirelessly on Excel spreadsheets like your father.
It doesn’t matter what you choose, because you are loved beyond compare. I haven’t met you, and I’m already in love with you and all that you are. While I have these hopes and dreams, my greatest desire is your health and happiness. I pray that, whatever you do and whoever you turn out to be, you’ll be happy.
I hope we can make you happy. Because, my sweet son, you have done that for me. I’ve never been as happy as I am when I think about you.
– Your mother, anxiously awaiting our first date
