international day of the girl

October 11 is International Day of the Girl.

Luckily I have a girl.

A fantastic girl.

In honor of such an important day, I thought I would write her a little note.  

A note she won't read for years to come, but still important.

Dear Ellie,

I love you.

I love how confident you are.

I love what a good friend you are and how you genuinely care about the people around you.

I love the outfits you come up with and how insane they are, yet somehow work.

I love how you still curl into me when we read at night.

I love that crazy gap toothed smile.

I love that you love to talk.  And talk.  And talk.

I love the way you smell.  

If I get down deep in that neck, I can still smell the tiny baby smell.

Barely, but it's there.

I hope you are always confident.

That you always fly your freak flag proudly.

That you continue to love what you love no matter what others say.

Whether or not it's cool.

(for the record, I love Barbra Streisand, stale popcorn, and I carry a hankie and will shout it from the rooftops.)

I hope you go from being nice to your friends, to befriending the lonely.  

Be a champion.

Be the girl that others girls want to be.

Not because you are the prettiest or the best dressed.

But because you are the kindest.

I hope you are always brave in your choices.

Right now it is clothes and shoes and hanging upside down from the monkey bars.

Someday, I hope that bravery is present when making the tough decisions.

To go away to school.

To get a doctorate or not.

To travel.

Good grief.

I hope you are brave enough to do it all.

I hope I am always your base.

Your soft place to land.

Your sounding board and your voice of reason.

I hope you always love me like you do right now.

Or some grown up version of it at least.

I want you to remember that you are awesome.

All the time.

Even when you make a mistake.

Especially when you make a mistake.

Life is all about the mistakes we make and learning from them.

I want you to make a bunch of them.

When you have grown up, 

 and done everything you want to do with your life,

I want you to find someone who loves you for you.

Who makes you laugh so hard your sides hurt.

Someone who rubs your feet and always fills your car with gas because he know you hate to do it.

Someone you are willing to work hard with to make a good life together.

I want you to find someone who you never have to worry about.

Never have to second guess.

Someone who you have complete and total trust in.

Someone you find sinfully handsome. 

I want your life partner to be your best friend.

It's just easier that way.

And this is the one area of your life I want to be easy for you.

As it's been for me.

Dear Ellie,

I love you.

I love you.

I love you.

You are the coolest girl I know.