A Graduation Letter to My Daughter

A Graduation Letter to My Daughter

A Graduation Letter to My Daughter

While we talk about wine a lot here, I wanted to share another moment in my life in this open letter to my daughter for her Graduation.

My precious girl:

It is hard to believe you have graduated university with a double major and with Magna Cum Laudes in both, no less…and are beginning your journey into adulthood (adulting, as your generation calls it!). Your heart is full of gold, your mind full of wisdom for a young woman your age, and you can work circles around people, in school, in the coffee shop, or working with underprivileged kids, starting a nonprofit…never lose the ability to work hard, and work hard at everything you do. It will and does pay off.

Please never let the world cause you to lose your natural gifts: your kindness, your age-old wisdom, your ability to feel (we call it gut feelings out here in the world), your amazing ability to love anything and everything, and your curiosity, rare in a young woman your age.

I’ve seen you apply these traits over and over, sometimes denied for them, teased for them, knocked down for them…all because of your God-given natural abilities, resources and talents. Please don’t let those negative people and things put these qualities asunder, these are what will make your life, and make it a huge success.

Hate filled rhetoric, abuse, and unkind people have no place in your life, daughter. Rise above it, every minute of every day. Stay strong. Stay away from the toxicity. I know what is in your heart and that is a gift no one can ever take away.

Please don’t change yourself, but always be willing to learn, because that is what life is all about.

Decide what you love to do and just do it. Never settle.

Don’t waste your time trying to get someone to love you who doesn’t.

Stay sensitive and sweet.

If you need help, ask.

Be generous with your time, your heart but NEVER let anyone push you around or tell you how to do things. Do things because you want to, not because someone tells you that you have to.

Take chances. Now is the time.

Find your passion. Sometimes, it just hits us, sometimes it takes a while. But that first job will not likely be it. But never stop pursuing your search for it. And also, realize you will have more than one passion along the way. When you find a passion, never let another person put you asunder.

Live, laugh, love.

Take care of your body, it is the only one we ever truly own. Use it, WORSHIP it.

Above all, learn to love yourself, for then only can we truly love and truly live a successful life.

Your loving and devoted mother,

Mommy