13.
I swear, it feels as if I just looked away for a second. And here we are.
13 years old.
From a baby to a teenager; how you have grown.
Your journey through this life has not been an easy one for you. Your path, littered with stones.
I hope you know that when you fumble and fall over them, we will always be there to wrap our love around you. To encourage you to get up, to try again, to never give up. To believe in yourself.
I don't know how you see the world. I can imagine. I have flashes of it when I try to enter yours, but I do not, truly, know.
What I do know is that, you changed our world. Your life has shown us what matters most. What to fight for. What to reach for. What to breathe for.
And we try to do this by following your compass. Not ours. We tried in the beginning to have you follow ours, and for that, we are truly sorry.
There is a Christmas school play from your very first preschool that I have only ever watched once. I can never watch it again, because it is too painful to witness how overwhelmed you were, rocking yourself in order to try and tolerate our world. We didn't have the knowledge back then about your world, but we do now. And that is why we, constantly, try to do better.
13 years old today.
You have come so far in those 13 years.
From not saying a word, to constantly learning, reading and practicing what you hear in YouTube videos. Over and over until you have the pronunciation perfected. And then using those phrases, in the correct context, in response to us. And we love it. The sheer innovation of it!
To not leaving the house without headphones, to now going for walks, without them, of your own volition.
To being so traumatised by loud sound, to now, almost relishing in it.
It is truly beautiful to witness your confidence growing and how your personality has developed.
You should be so incredibly proud of yourself! For never giving up. For how far you have come. For how much, no matter how big or small, you have accomplished.
Happy Birthday, our world!
We love you to infinity and beyond. Always and forever. 💓
