Hey Mama,

I know what you might be feeling right now. You must be facing so much fear, so much anxiety, and so much pride.

Your baby is graduating high school!

The day you thought would take 18 years to come, actually felt like a blink of an eye and the feeling you knew would be intense actually breaks you into a million pieces.

Your baby is going to take their first steps today as they walk out onto that podium.

Their first steps into adulthood, and there’s nothing you can do about the fact that they’re old enough to do so and they’re soon not going to need your constant assurance anymore.

That’s scary.

But quite frankly, although they don’t say it, it might be even scarier for them.

That big open abyss of unknowns is terrifying.

Take it from someone who was the class of 2016, applying for jobs, scholarships, and college is a long, exhausting process.

The fact that you have no idea where you’re going in life is one of the scariest things you can face.

But it’s also exhilarating knowing that.

You know what sucks? When you have a dream of becoming something but there are always naysayers who tell you that it’s an unrealistic dream.

I have never been in your shoes, as a mother, but I know that the nervousness I felt to become an adult and start college is probably doubled or even tripled for you.

I hope that you have peace in this time that your child will go on to accomplish great things.

Maybe your child is an honor student and all you’re feeling right now is pride.

Maybe your child barely scraped by in high school and you’re just glad the constant battle is over with.

Maybe your child has no plans to go to college, please nurture that dream. As hard as that might be, your child might just need someone to encourage them to figure out themselves.

God knows there are so many people in this world who know what they’re going to do with their lives but have no idea who they are as a person.

We need more teachers and scientists and doctors and astronauts and philosophers and therapists who actually know who they are and what they are put on this earth to be.

We need to raise up a generation of people who love others more than themselves and know their self-worth.

If your son has a YouTube channel with dreams of being a producer one day, encourage him in that.

If your daughter likes to fix trucks more than her makeup, let her be that.

So many teenagers don’t have parents who encourage them in who they are and that makes for a society that is never moving forward.

So don’t forget your tissue packet, Mama, and always remember that your baby will always be your baby, no matter how much your convinced that they think they’re independent.

They’re not. Maybe the most you can be is their cheerleader, and that’s okay.

Let me leave you with this: as your daughter or son goes out onto that stage and receives their diploma, let them know that you will support each and every one of their dreams and that you will be there to pick them up when they fall, because God knows our millennial generation needs that.