To My Wild Rose,

I hope you see the sunrise from every continent.

I hope you sit in awe underneath the moon and feel overwhelmed with love for your life.

I hope you have your heart broken. I hope you get challenged to be a better person. I hope you let yourself change as frequently as the seasons.

I hope you make mistakes….a lot of them!

I hope you find yourself on your knees crying more than once, because those are the moments where you get the chance to rebuild yourself better than before.

I hope you always turn the music up as loud as you can and shout out the lyrics to your favorite songs.

I hope you get scared…of life, of change, of new places, of love—but instead of running when you feel fear, run toward it, because if it can’t scare you a little then it possesses no greatness, and it won’t have the ability to be a game changer.

That brings me to my other point: Be a game changer.

Be so full of contradiction that no definition applies. Be you—speak your truth, and know that those who really belong in your life will be there regardless of anything you say or do.

Whether it’s family, friend or lover, true love really is unconditional.

I hope you fall in love, a lot. I hope you fall in love with the way the light stretches across your bed in the morning. I hope you fall in love with the way the sea kisses the coast, the way the wind sounds in the trees before a storm. I hope you fall in love and surround yourself with friends, old friends, new friends, female friends, male friends, younger friends, older friends…because you become a little like each friend you have, and friends really are the family we get to choose—so have a lot of them. It’s simple, really—be the kind of friend you want to have, and you will get it all back….and then some.

Let yourself fall in love, hunny…real, deep, shaking, I’m-so-nervous, I-keep-thinking-of-you-even-when-I-try-not-to, you-take-my-breath-away, too-good-to-be-true kind of love.

Let yourself fall, take the chance, and don’t ever say you’re not ready for it, because no one ever is—it sneaks in under the door in the middle of the night and suddenly you find yourself faced with it.

Promise you’ll never turn your back on that kind of love.

You will fall in love when you’re young, maybe more than once. You will at some point love the bad boy; let him break your heart, and teach you all sorts of things, but don’t marry the bad boy. You won’t be able to fix him—even if it seems like you can, you won’t. Love the bad boy; have fun, make mistakes, but don’t marry him.

They say once in your lifetime, someone will look at you differently than anyone else ever has. Wait for that. Wait for the person who you can tell all your dark secrets too, the one who you can laugh until you’re crying with, and who you can’t seem to kiss enough. Wait. I know it won’t be easy, but trust me. Wait.

At some point everyone in your life will start getting married, and having babies. Wait. Don’t ever get married or anything because you’re 25, or 30, or because everyone else is. Marriage is a contract, a business agreement involving the unpredictability of emotions.

Wait for the extraordinary.

And one more thing—if you have any sort of problems before marriage, they will not go away, they may subside at times, but they will never go away. Certain things should just click; wait for the person who just clicks, effortlessly.

Until you find that person, travel as much as you can.

See the world, make mistakes, cry, get hurt, eat new things, drink too much, live, and I promise that person, the one you dream of, will come to you when the Universe knows you’re ready. You may still feel like you’re not, so do me one favor: trust in the Universe, trust in its timing. Trust.

And I hope you kiss. A Lot.

Kiss under the moon. Kiss in the morning. Kiss in the pouring rain. Kiss in a blanket fort. Kiss during a snowball fight. Kiss in the sea. Kiss and kiss and keep kissing. I hope you have a million kisses that feel like the first time, and that stain your memory for years.

I hope you’re not perfect; I hope you’re weird, the outcast at times. I hope you keep your strange oddities; I hope you joke around a lot, I hope you never stop dancing around the house.

I hope you never stop believing in magic, or the beauty in the world.

I hope you do you.

I hope you find what makes you happy—not your friends, not your lover, but you. Spend alone time with yourself. Don’t fill the spaces. Be alone. See what happens. Take yourself out for coffee, dinner, wine and dine yourself because you deserve it. Eat ice cream for dinner and egg rolls for breakfast; take yourself shopping, hiking, walking, on vacation. Be so happy being you that anyone who comes into your life compliments you like a fine wine—but never feels the need to complete.

As amazing as you are, and amazing as the man that will someday be head over heels in love with you is, don’t ever think you complete each other. It can feel like a new kind of heaven when you find the person who just clicks, but be awesome on your own, because it’s the truth. No relationship is 50/50, it has to be 100/100. And although he will be the love of your life one day, know how to be happy without him, let your happiness not be tied to him, or anyone else. This is the real key, when you can find this, you’re ready.

Swim in the ocean naked. Go four wheeling in a jeep until you’re wet and muddy and laughing so hard you can’t breathe. Sleep in the moonlight, wish on shooting stars, contemplate life, listen to the wind, stop and feel how a summer night lays on your skin. Don’t follow the rules—they’re a trap.

Be a good person, be honest, be loving—and then be as crazy and wild as you can muster. Let things feed your soul, don’t over complicate them. If you miss someone, tell them; if you’re mad, tell them; if you’re in love, say it; if you want something, speak up.

Above all, treat each day as an adventure.

Happy Mother’s Day to you, my sweet baby girl, who grew under my heart for nine months, and who teaches me what it means to be a mother every day. Without you, I wouldn’t be the woman I am today, and for that I am eternally grateful.

I Love you to the moon and back again.

Relephant Reads:

A Letter to my Daughter from an Unconventional Mother.

~

Author: Kate Rose

Editor: Renee Jahnke/Emily Bartran

Image: Author’s Own