Dear 2011 Nikol,
I’m writing to you from four years in the future. Crazy, I know. You’ve only been married a couple of months and there’s a whole lot going on so I’m sure you haven’t thought much about what the far-off land of 2015 has in store. But I’m coming back to let you know something very important. You’re a mother, and you’re amazing at it.
That may come as somewhat of a surprise. Right about now you’re still not sure that you ever want to ever have kids, ever. Probably leaning towards no. That’s ok. Because in about a year you’ll have thought about it a lot and you’ll come to me and start the conversation that I was hoping you’d start. It happened kinda fast, actually, for someone who used to explicity tell me you weren’t interested. Maybe it seems scary. I just want to tell you that it’s going great.
Like most things you do, you will decide this on your own and then completely set your mind to being awesome at it. You will devour books about pregnancy, and parenting, and how to balance work and how to balance your marriage. You will read every mommy blog on the web and then start the best one of all. You will commit to being the best momma you possibly can be. It all probably sounds like a new life. It’s not, really. It’s just a better one. Because as a parent you will become the best version of yourself that I could have imagined.
And our daughter? She’s amazing, mostly because of the decisions you’ve made since the very beginning. You’re going to love her. Right now I’m writing this in the living room and I can hear you in the shower saying, “Claire will you wash my leg again? Will you wash my leg? Claire will you wash it again? Please? Pleeeeease?” And I can’t stop cracking up because I bet this sounds like an alien language to 2011 you. But to 2015 you, it’s heaven.
Motherhood is about to open new doors in a new house in a new neighborhood on a completely new planet for you. You’re still the same person, but this new stage in life will expand your horizons, strengthen your friendships and start lots of new ones, and bring you new levels of love and compassion that you couldn’t possibly imagine yet. You will be inspired and you will be an inspiration to others. Over the next four years I will watch parenting help you blossom as a person, and I could not be more proud or in love.
I just want you to know that you’re going to make the best decision of your life, and you’re going to be great at it. Better than you think. You can do anything. I know because I’m watching it. Happy Mother’s Day from four years in the future.
I love you,
2015 Ryan