Dear Addison,
When I found out I was pregnant with you, I cried happy tears. I wrote your Daddy a card to tell him the news, and when he read it, he smiled from ear to ear. We were both overjoyed to add a baby to our family. Your Daddy was a classically funny guy with a big personality so when we went in for the ultrasound to find out the sex it was in typical Mitch form that his response to “It’s a girl” was “Oh Shit!!!” – Mommy just laughed at the exchange. You see, I knew what your Daddy was saying. He was aware that he was going to be a sucker for his baby girl. He was mindful of the fact that you were going to be strong, and independent and beautiful (inside and out) and for that his response was, “Oh Shit!!!” Mommy wouldn’t usually share that language with you Addison, but it’s a funny story about your Daddy I thought you should know. He loved you so much and couldn’t wait to hold you in his arms.
You were late, two weeks late to be exact. You didn’t want to come out, and finally, the doctors decided they weren’t giving you a choice any longer. They called me into the hospital so they could induce you (that means help you be born). As I walked into the elevator at the hospital my water broke right there – it seems you had the same date planned as your doctors and I knew already what kind of personality I was going to have with my little girl. Feisty, stubborn, independent, and brave – all amazing qualities if you ask your mother.
At 2:35 a.m. you finally made your way into this world, and when I first looked at you, I couldn’t hold back my emotions. You took my breath away. 8 pounds, 8 ounces and 22 inches long – you were perfect, and beautiful, and nothing short of miraculous.
You, in a single instance, changed my world forever.
You’ve not stopped changing my life since. You amaze me in all the best ways. You make me proud to be your mother.
Your first word was “dada” at six months old, and you walked at nine months – right from the start you aimed high. You have traveled so many amazing places in the world, all by the tender age of ten, and you seem to be fascinated by other people and their unique way of life. You have an empathetic heart, an old soul, and a love of learning that I’ve rarely seen in other children I’ve known. Injustice bothers you both within friendships and beyond, and your spirit is adventurous and brave.
Please know that on that day when we lost your father, my heart broke in two not just for my loss but for the loss you’d be forced to face not having him in your life. Addison, you must know that you embody so many of your father’s best qualities. You have a love of life, a love of nature, and a love of family that comes from him. You have his silky skin, his hair, and his smile. You also have a charismatic charm and the ability to friend everyone that assures me his essential qualities live on in you. Oh, and girl you can ski and your Daddy just loves seeing that.