From the moment you are born, every moment is yours.

You’ll learn to live, to eat and sleep, to function.

You’ll learn to see, to spot patterns, cues.

You’ll learn your parents, your family, your loved ones.

You’ll learn to love.

You’ll learn some words, then how to use them.

Some of them will make us laugh. Some of them will be mortifying.

You’ll make friends and learn camaraderie. You’ll find spaces where you belong, beyond the spaces we make for you.

You’ll learn what your interests are, and learn to share them.

You’ll learn to kick a ball, to fall over and to fail.

How to pick yourself back up, and to win.

You’ll learn to drive. You’ll question whether or not you need to learn to drive at all.

You’ll learn to be smarter than your parents, then that you are smarter than your parents.

You’ll humble us.

You’ll learn that you had humbled us much, much sooner.

You’ll learn that from the moment you were born, you began to teach us about the world, about life, about learning.

You’ll learn that you’d taught us to be brave, how to be strong, that few things need us to be so serious.

You’ll learn that we’ve been peers the whole time.

That we’ll learn together until our last moment.

And that we’ll love you beyond it.

With love,

Your Parents