Baby Me

I'm posting the letters I've been getting for my "Dear Me" project to the blog this week.

I haven't quite been able to figure out how to write about the experience of reading these things without lapsing into meaningless cliches or sounding a little too over the top. So let's just get it over with-they are amazing. They are life changing. They make me laugh and they make me cry. They inspire me.

It's all true ladies. Look, women can be hard on each other. We spend a good portion of our lives in competition-for boys, for the cutest kids, for the cleanest house, for the most "having it all"-ness. I don't know if we are even always aware of how much personal PR we are constantly doing so everyone knows we are good enough and strong enough and happy enough. What I love about these letters is that they say, yes-we ARE good enough and strong enough and happy enough but it's taken WORK to get where I am. And sometimes we're better then we were 10 years ago and sometimes there are some things we could probably learn from the girl we used to be. But we've all been through stuff, and we've been low, and we've been dumb and we haven't always done our best and it's cool. It makes us real. It gives us empathy. And if we can look back at our own little silly selves with love and compassion, doesn't that say we can and should do it for all those lovely women around us just trying to do their best too?

I am a fan of women. I think we as a group can be SO awesome. And I will say again that I truly believe these letters have power to help us encourage awesomeness in each other. Go read them. And then write one. And send it to me.