To My Children

Dear Caden and Addison,

Today is Valentine's Day.  A day to celebrate love.  And also a made-up Hallmark holiday according to your Daddy.  The longer I live, the more I am inclined to agree.  (Although you should know, chocolate and love notes go a long way with Mommy... any day!)


One day soon, you'll tell me you love me.  And I will melt into a little puddle of goo on the floor.  There may even be tears.  And blubbering.  And lots of hugging afterward.  One day we'll make valentines for your class together.  And you will come home with an adorable valentine pouch/mailbox/thing that will find an important place in our house for a while.  One day you'll like someone.  In a more than just friends kind of way.  And your Daddy will immediately start cleaning his gun and pacing the floor.  You will act like you think he's crazy, but secretly you will like that he loves you enough to worry over you.  One day I'll teach you about love languages and the importance of guarding your heart.  You will think I am nutso.  Overprotective.  And way behind the times.  I won't care one bit.  Then one day your heart will be broken.  And I will hurt with you.  One day you will start driving, getting jobs and talking about college.  Leaving me, a little at a time until you find yourself making your own life in this world.  Maybe even loving someone else the way I love your Daddy, and being loved well in return...  one day.  I will be so proud of you.  So absolutely terrified.  And so incredibly mixed up on the inside that your Daddy may have a hard time living with me for a while.  But we will work it out.  Because love always finds a way.  That's another thing that I will tell you about.  One day...


But for now, let's start with this.  I love you.  Not just on Valentine's Day.  But every minute, of every hour, of every day.  No matter what.  Count on that.  (And the gun cleaning thing.)


Mommy