Dearest Sunshine,

Don’t let anyone cloud your mind.

There will be friends that assume they know what's best for you and it will turn out that they were far from right. Know that you will learn from these broken friendships and understand how much stronger you are from saying no and from standing up for yourself.

There will be boys that will toy around with your heart and they’ll knock around your self-esteem. Don’t let that be the end of your thoughts of love. Love is pure and beautiful and wonderful when treated correctly and sometimes boys don’t see it that way. Through all the pain, keep your heart intact. Someone is out there for you and he will have to be spectacular because we all know you are a lot to handle.

Sometimes you will think that you hate mom; know that you are completely wrong. You will fight and bicker with her until you are both blue in the face but at the end of the day, she will be the anchor that keeps you grounded. The bottom line is that she wants you to be the best person that you can be; she will sacrifice money and minutes to make sure that you have your time in the sun. Never forget to thank her and tell her you love her.

Your siblings, including me will try to tell you the way of the world and your first thought will be to reject it because “we don’t know how you feel.” I totally understand your way of thinking and never think that you aren’t an individual but also process that we have been through a lot ourselves. Bullies, friendships broken and heartache… we don’t want any of the horrible memories that we have to become a part of your life too.

Start to love school and to love your education. Learning is so important and you have so much potential built up inside of you that I can see the leader blooming inside. Let that be known and don’t ever dumb yourself down for anyone. Be confident in your mind and never give up. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from teachers, friends or family… we know what you are capable of and we wouldn’t want anything less for you.

Finally, to yourself... be kind. Allow yourself to be the person that you want to be and base that solely on your opinion. Friends and fads will come and go but you are stuck with yourself until the end of time; be proud of who you become on your own terms. Love yourself wholeheartedly, gush about how beautiful you are and remind yourself how necessary your life is. Self-loathing is a horrible trend that many become a victim of and I don’t want that for you. By loving yourself, you will be able to achieve everything that you want in life. I just know it.

I love you and I can’t wait to see you grow up,