Monday, May 12, 2014

To My Niece, on the Eve of her 21st Birthday

My Darling Meg,

tomorrow is your 21st birthday.  you will be officially, at least in they eyes of society, an adult.  you can smoke.  you can drink.  you can fight and die for your country.  you can vote.  yes, for all but one of those things, you have been able to do for quite some time.  but i've included them for a reason, because i want you to understand the weight of being an adult.

being an adult is filled with responsibility.  please don't for a second think i'm saying this because you are irresponsible.  you are not.  you have taken on more responsibility in your short life that some who have been alive decades longer.  i'm talking about responsibility to yourself.  you are a smart and witty and beautiful woman.  and that is a heavy and glorious purpose.

glorious because the world is so sparkling and new.  there is so much yet that you haven't experienced.  there is food and drink, and art, and distant lands, and music...  i cannot even begin to tell you the beauty this world holds for you.  you have everything ahead of you.   love.  oh love.  i hope so much that love grabs onto you and never lets go.  it makes you see everything again with new eyes.  there is so much of this world to be passionate about.  you've seen so little of it.  my greatest wish for you is to get lost in the world and to just experience it with open arms and soul.  be a nomad, even if it's only in your mind, make the world you home even if you never leave your apartment.

heavy because it comes with burdens.  humans are humans after all.  people will see your brains and assume you are a "bitch".  they will see your looks and assume you are dumber than a box of rocks.  both false.  but before ever talking to you they will have a preconceived notion that you are less than you are.  that you are lacking.  and they will try their hardest to grind you down, to bring you to their level of pain so that they are not alone in it.  to make one more miserable asshole in this world.  just like them.

prove them wrong darling.

your responsibility as an adult is now to prove to the world that it is possible to be sweet but not stupid.  to be wildly intelligent and vastly beautiful.  prove, my dear sweet Meg, that the people of the world cannot break you.  to be wild, and free, and glorious.  be yourself and NEVER apologize for it.  for you my sweet have NOTHING to apologize for.  you are perfect.

happy birthday

your aunt heather

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