1) She’s hilarious.
2) She loves to learn.
3) She sends me emails in all caps.
4) She points out my spelling mistakes, even though her emails are littered with them.
5) She makes me smile, even when I don’t feel like it.
6) She’ll probably be taller than me very soon, and says “she’s going to be the big sister.”
7) She sends me pictures of the jokes she finds in her books.
8) She’s adorable.
9) She has a TON of fourth-grade drama she shares every time I call home, that I’m LIVING for.
10) She loves me unconditionally.
I never knew I could love someone so much until she came along and watching her grow up from halfway across the world is one of the most painful things I’ve experienced since I moved back to Canada.
I miss the way her eyes twinkle when she laughs.
I miss her tiny voice calling me didi.
I miss her huge personality and the way she thinks she’s always right even though she knows she’s wrong.
and even though it’s annoying, I know that that is the type of confidence she’ll need to get through life and have people respect her.
My love, when life threatens to flood on to your cheeks from the backs of your eyelids, I want you to remember the time you corrected every single mistake in my email.
When people tell you to be quiet, I want you to yell the lines from your Ancient Greece play at the top of your lungs.
When the world tries to beat the curiosity from your bones, I want you to look up and think about when you asked me why the sky is blue.
When someone tells you no, look them square in the eye and tell them that you want to be the first engineer on Mars.
Point to an oyster and tell them that you are a pearl made from Indian sand, complete and utter perfection.
I hope you learn how to own every step you take, and never feel like you don’t deserve the shoes you wear to walk-through life.
When you feel lost, let your feet sink into the earth and take their place, feel the life of the soil and the strength of the tree roots, the strength of your roots, and let mother earth tell you that you are exactly where you need to be.
You are exactly who you need to be.
But most of all, I want you to know, that if life ever gets too hard, Didi will always be here to make you hot chocolate, and we can watch Home Alone even if its July, and even when you’re 40.