My Most Beautiful Princess,

I can’t help but wonder where you are or what you’re doing. Baby girl, your little mind is too fragile to even begin to comprehend the adversities you will endure as you grow to be the amazing woman I know you are destined to be. Whether you are living in a rundown crack house or a refugee of war, know that mommy is thinking of you. My sweet little pea, I am coming for you, but I feel as your mother that it’s my duty to warn you of what’s ahead.

My most precious little one, unfortunately you will come to learn very early in life that you were not created from the deeply rooted love mommy and daddy share for each other, nor do we share a single strand of DNA; that does not mean we love you any less. Though we were not connected by a cord at birth, we share the same love at first sight. Love at first sight for us is the immense attachment your heart has to mine. Mommy made mistakes when she was young and broken, so I could not carry you in the dwelling of my belly. Nonetheless, you will be my most precious child and make up for every mistake I ever made, as you will be the light of my life.

Baby girl, you are destined for greatness, let no other living being tell you otherwise. You will grow up being told you cannot do something because you are a female or of a foreign ethnicity or even because you don’t closely resemble a Barbie doll, but that will only drive you to shatter the glass ceiling. Why; because you are my child. I will raise you with a voice louder than a lion and a passion far greater than one could ever comprehend. You’ll make a man’s dollar darling, because so help me God I wouldn’t raise you to accept anything less.

My most beautiful princess, you will be everything I couldn’t be. You’ll be brave enough to stand up for the values that your father and I taught you since you were small. You will hurdle over adversity and shatter social norms in order to shine brighter than those around you in the utmost lady-like manner. You will look in the mirror every waking morning with a smile wider than the Grand Canyon because confidence is what you wear best. You will be what the future generation of little women look up to—you will be strong.

-Mommy