Dear birth, you are a mere 19 years away but still unseeable.

The only moment where I was able to be anything I could imagine.

Gosh, I can only imagine how beautiful I was when I first bloomed.

Like the boom of the big bang, I can always feel your effects no matter how far away I age from you.

 

Dear youth, who had its innocence stripped away when your clothes were stripped off.

That was not love, no matter what he says, it is no game for you to play.

That is abuse, the only game he played is with your body.

One day you'll know what actual love feels like.

Not a puppet show where he drops you when you're done but a rollercoaster where you begin to fly whenever you fall.

 

Dear motherless child, given away to a father you see as stranger and sees you as strange.

Know that proximity won't form a bond like truth and understanding.

That new things don't replace what you had, just become what you have

 

Dear adolescence in the boys' locker room,

telling half-truths and whole lies to fit in.

Deciding if you want to be them or be with them.

You were never confused, you just didn't know you can have both and be neither.

You aren't defined by what you are and what you are not; you just simply are.

 

Dear smart teenager, I used to be,

You will no longer be smart.

Grades will now come with work instead of ease.

Every credit earned by study sessions and going to class when it feels impossible.

You will now be hard working.

 

Dear barely an adult, thank you for surviving yesterday.

I know the bed had a tight grip on you for most of the day; but you were strong enough to eat, shower, and keep going.

You keep teaching to be okay with doing just something.

I hope that I am as good a teacher as all of you for who we are tomorrow.