wide, wide open

Dear boys,

This week you went back to school buildings. It is difficult to feel suddenly removed from your days. I remember when I held you so close I could count your eyelashes.

I know you need action over stagnation, camaraderie over isolation. I believe in all the benefits of being in class. I wish the world could see your faces, that masks were not necessary this fall. Still, I can hear you each humming a song called potential.

Alongside conjugating Spanish verbs and solving for X, may you continue to stand up for yourself, for the people you love, for the perfect strangers. You already know that the nicest thing you can do for someone is include them. Your kindness will spread like good contagion.

I trust you to invest in your work, and hope you'll focus on what's left to learn (there's always something) rather than proving what you already know. Please remember that you're always right for trying. And please know that I am fairly unconcerned about your grades, far more interested in mundane stories and incredible experiences, simple ideas and wild feelings. Please tell me all of it. Or tell the cats.

I hope you'll be patient with people, especially yourself, and you'll be perseverant when things feel hard. I love the way each of you live comfortably with words like I was wrong, the way you're willing to revisit assumptions, receptive to the whole wide world. 

You are all three clever and brave. May your choices come mainly from a strong sense of who you are, and who you want to be. May your throughlines be curiosity and love.

It is my immense privilege to watch each of you through all the ways you change. 

Someday you might live in Africa! Will you curate arrowhead collections or work as a prairie dog veterinarian? You could be a ballerina on Mars! 

I can’t wait to buy a ticket for all of it.

I could not be more proud of you. 

My arms are always wide, wide open.

Love,

Mom