I hope that my daughter will love to sing. She doesn’t have to be good. In fact, she can be terrible. But to have the confidence whether alone or in front of others to belt out a song as though you’re filling an auditorium is absolutely thrilling. On top of that, it’s therapeutic. 

I hope that she will love to dance. Again, she can be absolutely terrible. But dancing is one of the most freeing things in the world if you can just let yourself go and feel the music.

Actually, I really just hope that she will love music because of all of the magic it can bring to her life. 

I hope that she’ll have a great sense of humour. Laughing is the best thing on earth. Whether she’s funny doesn’t really matter, what matters is that she’ll be able to find the humour in things. That she’ll be able to laugh so hard that she cries and, perhaps, pees a little too. 

I hope that she will be confident. I hope that she will believe in herself because when you believe in yourself, you can literally (figuratively) do anything. Except maybe surgery. You need to believe in yourself, be a genius with a boundless work ethic AND a steady hand. Her hands will probably be sweaty and a little shaky so if she wants that, she’ll need a little extra “wax-on-wax-off” in her life. 

I hope that she will love exercising and will take pride in her body and how strong, vulnerable and amazing it is. That she’ll want to be healthy, feel healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. 

I also hope that she won’t obsess about the above and that she’ll have a Slurpee with candy and chips or way too much pizza with her friends and not feel any guilt about it. 

I hope that she will love reading and more importantly learning. I hope that she will be able to get submerged in a book and fall in love with the characters and then dream about the stories after.

I hope that she will love herself and will be kind to herself.

I hope that she will forgive me for the mistakes that I’m bound to make.

I hope that she will know that she can reinvent herself at anytime. And that she will take advantage of it.

I hope that she will learn that she can’t control what other people do, but she can control how she reacts to what they do. Knowing this is what will give her opportunities to regain and sustain power in her life. 

I hope that she take pride in her accomplishments and goals. 

I hope that she will have goals. 

I hope that she will make good choices and, in particular, good choices in who she chooses to be in her friend family. I hope that she surrounds herself with the kind of people that build her up and believe in her even on the days when she has a hard time doing it herself. That they also don’t get into too much trouble. Just a healthy respectful amount of trouble that teens need to do. Nothing bigger than that!

I hope that she will find real and honest love. A partner to work things out with. A partner who will want to build a wonderful life with her. One that will balance her out. One that loves her for exactly for who she is. One that pushes her to always be bettering herself and will also know the days when she just needs to be on the couch in her hideous pyjamas. One that will fight for her. One that is all in. 

I hope that she will always know that I will be there for her and will always trust that she can depend on me. 

I hope that she will know that she can change the world if she wants. 

I hope she will always know just how much we love her. Our perfectly imperfect perfect girl.