Dear Isabelle, (part two)
A year ago today I wrote a blog post just for you.
It’s amazing just how much has changed!
You’ve grown about 4 feet (which is only a slight exaggeration) and have become quite the hula hoop extraordinaire since your first (pretty dismal) attempts during Wanderlust at the beginning of the year.
Some things however, have remained the same. You still prefer to spend time with one good friend than a group (which I’d say you get from me) and you still hate buttons and dogs.
Dad and I don’t understand the aversion to buttons, they don’t bark or bite like dogs BUT I’m taking advice from one of your favorite movies and “letting it go” I mean there used to be a time where you had to go everywhere with a dummy in your mouth and wouldn’t sleep and you outgrew the dummy .. the sleep thing is still a work in progress. 😉
The advice I gave you last year still holds true (in fact it made Mumma quite teary when I read it), so I’m going to repost it below but in light of what’s going on in the world right at this time I want to add this to the very top of the list;
Just be a good person!
Never use your religion as an excuse to hate others, if someone is a good person it really shouldn’t matter what they call their God.
Please, go through life doing no harm BUT taking no shit! Stand up for anything that you truly believe in (even if I disagree) and perhaps more importantly for those who can’t stand up for themselves.
ALL things are possible
You just have to believe in yourself as much as Dad and I believe in you.
There will always be someone there to catch you if you fall – even if it’s not me
I may not always be there when you stumble, but trust me when I say there will always be someone to catch you or at the very least pick you up, dust you off and send you on you way.
On that note, if you need help please never be too shy to ask for it.
You don’t have to be good at something to do it
If you enjoy it, do it! Dadda and Elias like to run and you and I like to walk, we all get to the same place eventually and regardless of what your brother tells you, winning isn’t the be all and end all.
Life is not a competition, it’s a journey.
You don’t have to like everyone
The commandment states “love thy neighbour”, nowhere (that I know of) does it say you have to like them. I would however like you to give everybody a chance – you know how sometimes a book has a pretty picture on the front but the story is boring?
Well I’ve found that the most battered books are the ones people enjoy the most. and finally;
Only say I love you when you mean it;
I love lots of things, especially things that are pink in color or contain sugar and probably more so if it’s both, but the phrase I LOVE YOU should be reserved only for people you truly love.
Don’t say I love you just because someone says it to you and never say I love you just to make someone feel better if you don’t truly mean it.
Love is special, so when you do feel it, say it over and over because when you really mean it you feel like you can never say it enough. That’s why I tell you that I love you, each and every day at least a million times a day.
Till next time
