Hi,

I don’t know too much about you right now since I’m a sophomore in college, but I want you to know that you’re a thought on my mind every day as I’m living my college experience and taking note of both my triumphs and tribulations.

I have no idea what you look like, but I do know that your name is one of elegance as well as the regime in the year 2016. You share a name with the heir to the English throne and the granddaughter of the first woman to make it so far in a presidential election. Your name in itself is enough for me to know that you are going to be a woman of power, intelligence, strength, and beauty.

I want you to know that I’m going to love you from the day I meet you. I never want you to go through life thinking that you’re unloved and unwanted. Your father will love you just as much- if not more- than I do. There’s nothing more strong in the world than the love a father can have for his daughter.

No matter what you’re going through, I want you to know that your mental health always comes first. If you ever feel stressed or overwhelmed by the pressures of school, fitting in, and trying to navigate your way through your teen years, just let me know and I will be by your side in a heartbeat. I hope you know that a poor letter grade at the top of a test will not make me look at your differently, and it especially should not diminish the way that you look at yourself. By now you already know that school was competitive for me in my small town fueled by persistence to thank my immigrant parents for the opportunities they opened up for me and that it was often easy for me to fall behind if I did not make the effort to make school my top priority. You know that I struggled and sometimes compromised my health for my grades. I want you to know that one bad test grade won’t take away your dreams of getting into law school someday.

Whenever you’re having a bad day, I want you to come to me. We’ll go on a drive and hit up all of your favorite places. I’ll point out the spot where you met your best friends at five years old, and the spot where you went on your first date: a time in your life where you believed so hard in something so pure and full of innocence. I’ll show you the spot in our town where the sun rises and remind you that you can too rise because you are so strong and the absolute best thing about me.

I hope that by now that I’ve taught you how to be humble and empathize with others. I want you to take note of the world around you and realize how lucky you are, and how your luck is based on the genetic lottery. Every time we visit Asia, I want you to chip in some of your money and buy the poor children on the streets ice cream cones because you are fully aware that you could have easily been them had the genetic lottery not worked in your favor. I want you to count your blessings every day, and do the minimal amount of complaining that a teenage American girl can do.

When you break up with your best friends, I will be there for you the same way your grandma was here for me. I will reassure you that they were never worth the hassle, and even though you grew up with them, you’re better off without them and that you will make incredible friends in college that will stay your life, long friends. I will help you realize that some friends are only temporary.

I never want you to be scared about the concept of falling in love. No, I’m not necessarily talking about the pure love at sixteen type of love, but just love in general. Don’t be afraid to take pride in yourself, the passions that set your heart on fire, the people that pick you up when you’re in a million pieces. I also want you to have the courage to believe in second loves. It’s a bold and risky move, but it will assure you that love truly does exist even after you put your effort into it and believed that it did not.

I hope you know that through the teenage years consisting of “I hate yous” and rhythmic door slamming, that I will always love you and be one of the few people in your life who truly have your best interest at heart.

Have favorites: movies, shows, colors, books. Have passions and hobbies. Be a leader because I’m sure as hell not bringing another follower into this world. You’re going to be a mix of my thick headedness and your father’s stubbornness, but I can assure you that you’re going to make the most of our negative traits and use them in the most positive ways to change the world. I already love you more than words can say, I can’t wait for the day I get to meet you and reiterate all of this to you in person.

With all my heart,