I hope you know that I’ve given my all in this journey. I never aimed to cause any ruckus, worries or uncertainties in your mind. I’ve tried to keep my composure at the most crushing of times, and when I failed in this aspect, I tried to water down my deep-rooted pain, pain that I knew I had to process in private and eventually purge just the same. It’s been so long, it being just you and I, so as I see you growing up, growing up physically, emotionally and mentally, I worry how I’ll survive without your presence; as it’s been you that’s been carrying me versus me carrying you.

I’ll have to release you to the world so you can make your mark, create and leave your footprint, as they say, and with this reality, it’s my hope that I’ve given you a non-faulty foundation. The values that you carry, never swerve from them. The strong voice you’ve found, never silence it. And your pain, the pain I so wish I could easily erase, please allow it to push you to greatness. Skip to your own beat, create beauty with your hands, your God-given gift of your artistic eyes, and the essence that your soul exclusively carries.

I’ve not gone far in my life, not as far as I’ve intended, and this is where I ask that you learn from my mistakes, my hesitancies, and my self-inflicted doubts; don’t incorporate them. Rather, see where I’ve erred and move on-push past all my foolish boundaries and rise higher. View my setbacks as reasons for you to step forward.

Guard your heart, but not too much to where you shut out any possibility of true love to seep in. Be the daydreamer that reaches for the impossible versus settling for what this world deems as realistic. Don’t allow my fears of the world to hold you back from exploring your curiosities.

Protection is all I’ve tried to give you. Protection from heartache, disappointment, uncomfortableness, and those with ill intentions. My hold on you has been tight simply because I never wanted my griefs to become yours. I wanted to preserve your beautiful outlook on the world and the people that reside on it versus tarnishing both. Yet, in hindsight, this move on my part might make your adulthood more complicated, and for that, I do regret.

Mankind is not kind. Friends will come and go. Partners will give you heartache. Employers will wear you down, but never allow these moments to decrease your value. Your worth, how you hold yourself, view yourself and the priority that you give yourself, that should always be paramount; never let it be slighted. Resiliency is in your bloodline, as is unparalleled reasoning; lean on both. But those trials that are so troublesome to where they make you weary, lean on me. Battling for you is something I vow to forever do because you are my Day 1, my lifeline. I have lived to love you. My love is deep, faithful and unwavering in this unreliable, relentless world.

So, my beautiful daughter, while I strived so hard to only give you a comforting, loveable space, I know you have endured some battle scars. Life’s uncertainties have bled into our lives, and while I wish I could remove the scars you’ve acquired; I assure you that I have zero regrets in being front and center to take those ‘bullets’ in battle on your behalf because, my little love, they have and will always continue to be my badges of honor…