To my future daughter,

I hope you fall in love with life.

I hope you stand so tall that you swallow the sun, so rays of sunshine forever keep you shining from within.

I hope you eat cake. Lots of it. I hope you read books until the wee hours of the night and end your days dreaming of magical wizards and fearless heroines, where YOU are the saving grace that rescues the crying village.

I hope you color the grass yellow and paint the sky red and don’t let anyone tell you there’s anything wrong with adding a little liveliness and pizazz to a sometimes lifeless, monotonous picture. I hope you gaze at the stars and make wishes on each one and dare to dream.

I hope you write down your most important thoughts, from your 5th grade crush to your pre-college jitters, so that one day you will look back and laugh at your younger self.

I hope you pick the brightest sunflowers and wear them in your hair, and spend your days with grass-stained feet and sparkling eyes, wild with adventure.

I hope you dance with the wind and sing to the clouds and jump so high the angels in heaven will be clapping their hands and twirling along with you.

And I hope you feel their love and allow their wings to soar you to amazing places. I also hope you try to pause each day and remember to thank them. I hope you say your prayers at night, even when you're all grown up.

I hope that on frizzy hair days, instead of complaining, you remind yourself to be thankful that you even have hair. I hope you know that the models in magazines are airbrushed and that no number of “likes” on a picture defines your beauty or worth.

I hope you meet amazing friends who will make you laugh so hard and so loud that people turn and look at you funny, but you'll be too busy living that moment to notice. I even hope you break the rules a little-those always make the best stories.

I hope you understand that one bad test score does not define your capabilities or potential.

I hope you try really hard to be kind to people, even when they are not so kind to you. I hope you accept sincere apologies and say, “I’m sorry,” even when things are not always your fault. But I also hope you aren’t afraid to stick up for yourself, and also for others, and tell someone off if need be.

I hope your mind develops a thirst for knowledge and never stops questioning the little things that ignite your curiosity. I hope you discover a happiness that is fueled by your independence and wiliness to pursue your passions.

I hope you recognize your worth is more than a five-second Snapchat or 1 a.m. text. And I hope you realize the boy who broke up with you over text is not the knight in shining armour you see reflected in your tears.

Despite this hurt, I hope you find it in yourself to love again.

And when the day comes when that special someone finally stumbles into your life, I hope you call me and tell me everything. I hope you tell me he brings you flowers and goes to church and always walks you home.

I hope you tell me he's afraid of heights but fell for you anyway.

I hope you find yourself on your wedding day with the most wonderful bridesmaids who take turns fussing over your dress and hair and making sure everything is exactly how you dreamed it would be.

I hope you surround yourself with people that make you feel beautiful, special, and loved because life is just too darn short to feel anything less.

I hope you experience the Tuscan sun, Parisian moon, Mid-Eastern sea and everything else in between.

And, years down the road, when you’re feeling overwhelmed and need to cry about how little Susie cried all night and how you cannot possibly function another day on two hours of sleep, I hope you call me, vent to me, and let me listen.

I hope you do all these things.

And one day, when you're own little girl is rolling her eyes and giving you sass about how "unfair" and "uncool" you are, I hope you tell her that one day, SHE will have her OWN daughter who will say the same thing to her (just like I used to say to you).

And you will come to find that one day, your own little girl will grow up and go away. I hope you know she will miss you dearly, even if she forgets to call.

On a quiet day, when she longs for love and dreams of a family and wonders if she, too, will have a daughter one day, I hope you know she will reopen the journal you gave her and remind herself to teach her future daughter all the things you taught her.

I hope you know that she will be grateful you gave her the sun and the stars and taught her how to do cartwheels. I hope you know how thankful she will always be for your welcoming arms, the arms that never fail to give the biggest, warmest hugs.

I hope you know it is in your presence that she always feels the most at home.

And at the end of her entry, I hope you know she will thank God for having you as a Mom and for giving her this world that she loves so much. I hope you know that she will think of all these things, even if she doesn't tell you.

How will you know?

You will see your own love of life, the kind your mother hoped for you and you for her, shining brightly in her eyes with each smile, breath, and step she takes.

And when that revelation comes, I hope you stop for a moment, shake your head, look toward the sun, and smile to yourself.

I hope you think of me.

With love,

A wishful girl with a hopeful heart, praying and dreaming of you (I suppose she has her mother to thank for that)