Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A Letter from Mother to Child

This post was destined to happen.  Lisa posted a comment on my Day 2 Blogger Challenge and said "I know it will be a blink of an eye before this will be my boys. I don't want it to go so quickly."  Just a few hours later, I was going through boxes, preparing for my move this summer, when I came across my middle son's baby book.  Inside of it, was an Ann Landers article from August 10, 1990 in the Detroit Free Press. The letter to Ann Landers was an article the writer had clipped from years before from the Los Angeles Times when her twins were babies but now all grown up and she'd used this article to cherish every moment.  While the letter is addressed to a daughter, the moral of the article is from mother to child.

Dear Daughter:
Although you are only 4 years old and will not understand what I am saying, I feel the need to write this letter and put it away for you to read many years later from now.
When you were an infant and the newness of being a mother wore off, I couldn't wait until you grew up. At first, I found myself wishing, "If only she would start walking!" And then, "If only she would start talking!" One day I suddenly realized that you were out of diapers. You were indeed walking and talking, and pretty soon you would be going off to school.
I remember the morning your father and I brought your baby sister home from the hospital. You and I had been apart six days.  When the door opened I saw you standing there with your angel smile.  You seemed so big compared to the baby I was holding in my arms. It was hard to imagine you were once that small.
I suddenly realized how much of your babyhood I had wished away. Being a mother is demanding. It robs you of so many freedoms, and I resented teh fact that I had so many added responsibilities.  And then I looked down at your soft curls and your trusting eyes.  Suddenly I felt so ashamed.   My heart almost broke.
I cannot relive those first four years, but I have been trying to make them up to you -- and to myself.  I hope and pray that when your first child is born you will be wiser and more mature than I was.  I hope you will enjoy every phase of your child's growing up and not wish they would hurry and pass so you could be free of the "burdens" of motherhood.
You and I will have our share of heated words and angry battles in the years to come. There will be days when we will find it impossible to please each other.  I will secretly wish that you would hurry and graduate from high school so I could send you off to college and be rid of you.
Life rushes by all too rapidly, my darling daughter, especially the lovely days and the beautiful times.  Be smarter than your mother was.  Don't let a single moment slip away unsavored or unappreciated.  These days are priceless and afford you the greatest opportunities for fulfillment.  Never again will your heart be so full. 
All my love,
Mother

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