I’ve been looking for the right words, but I’m only hearing music – some happy, some sad. Your big, bright, messy world has taught me that maybe that’s okay too.
As our seasons are changing, I hope you know that there isn’t a day I’m walking through without you. You are an unconventional, inexplicable part of me.
You have made me the most creative, most playful, most patient, most adventurous, most intuitive, and most grateful version of myself I have ever known.
Three years ago, I would never have thought to dream of alternative career options for princesses, where the neighbors are headed at any given time, or what the mailman’s dog’s name is. I would have never named my feet or answered every phrase with a rhyme. I would have never understood why parents occasionally have wine for dinner.
I wasn’t prepared for what you would teach me and how much you were readying me for a world beyond my comprehension.
I didn’t know what I believed in until I found myself humbled by your occasional torrential rage but mostly, by your love. Unapologetic. Relentless. Unconditional.
I hope someday you’ll grab the hands of my own kids, all of us with watermelon sticky fingers, and teach them to crazy dance at Concerts in the Park, enveloped by the orange glow of the late summer sun.
“Thank you” feels inadequately small and “I love you” seems laughably obvious.
So, here’s to the small and obvious.
Firefly Enlightenment 