The World Before You
Dear baby girl,
Well, here we are. It's three days past my due date and I am as antsy (and anxious and scared and excited and worried and thrilled) as ever that you will be here soon(ish). I've obviously made a reasonably comfortable home for you over the past nine months, and perhaps I should be flattered that you're content to stay put for a little while longer. But come out already, would you?!
Anyways, that's not the purpose of this letter, so let me move on.
Today is the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. JFK was the 35th President of the USA who served for 2 1/2 years before his death. He was incredibly famous (as is the Kennedy family in general) and there have been specials and news segments all over the TV for the past week in remembrence of him. As such, many video recordings from the 1960s have been playing and I have been so intrigued by how different the world was then in comparison with the post-1987 world in which I've grown up. In fact, it's hard to believe that the same 1960s world that has been playing all over the TV lately is the world into which your grandma, grandpa, nana & papa were born. In the 1960s, the civil rights movement (led largely by Martin Luther King, Jr.) was in full force and in 1964 the Civil Rights Act was finally signed into law. This law desegregated schools and other public places. Isn't it hard to believe that at one point in time (not that long ago) black people and white people weren't even allowed to drink from the same drinking fountains or sit in the same sections of a public bus?
In thinking about this world that existed before I did, I can't help but think about the world that I have grown up in and that you will soon be born into - a world of political upheaval, violence, helicopter parents, rising costs... but also kindness, joy, and some truly amazing technological advances! I realize that I say this as an optimist (or at least an optimistic realist), but I am constantly reminded of the good in the world and believe that it does outweigh the bad - even if we don't hear about it as often. Keep your eyes opened and you, too, will see that.
So, baby girl, remember that there was the world before you existed, and there is the world before you. I pray that you make the best of whatever world you grow up in and know that it is a better place because you are in it.
Love,
Mommy
Well, here we are. It's three days past my due date and I am as antsy (and anxious and scared and excited and worried and thrilled) as ever that you will be here soon(ish). I've obviously made a reasonably comfortable home for you over the past nine months, and perhaps I should be flattered that you're content to stay put for a little while longer. But come out already, would you?!
Anyways, that's not the purpose of this letter, so let me move on.
Today is the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. JFK was the 35th President of the USA who served for 2 1/2 years before his death. He was incredibly famous (as is the Kennedy family in general) and there have been specials and news segments all over the TV for the past week in remembrence of him. As such, many video recordings from the 1960s have been playing and I have been so intrigued by how different the world was then in comparison with the post-1987 world in which I've grown up. In fact, it's hard to believe that the same 1960s world that has been playing all over the TV lately is the world into which your grandma, grandpa, nana & papa were born. In the 1960s, the civil rights movement (led largely by Martin Luther King, Jr.) was in full force and in 1964 the Civil Rights Act was finally signed into law. This law desegregated schools and other public places. Isn't it hard to believe that at one point in time (not that long ago) black people and white people weren't even allowed to drink from the same drinking fountains or sit in the same sections of a public bus?
In thinking about this world that existed before I did, I can't help but think about the world that I have grown up in and that you will soon be born into - a world of political upheaval, violence, helicopter parents, rising costs... but also kindness, joy, and some truly amazing technological advances! I realize that I say this as an optimist (or at least an optimistic realist), but I am constantly reminded of the good in the world and believe that it does outweigh the bad - even if we don't hear about it as often. Keep your eyes opened and you, too, will see that.
So, baby girl, remember that there was the world before you existed, and there is the world before you. I pray that you make the best of whatever world you grow up in and know that it is a better place because you are in it.
Love,
Mommy
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