Dear Arlandria,
Today you turn 4 months old. You can roll from your back to your tummy, and you are able to control your head with ease. You are working on holding items with your small hands, and love to chew on your hands whenever you find them.
You have learned how to splash in the bathtub, and enjoy making your arms and legs flail with excitement. The past few weeks have also been all about Dad. You are in love with your father, so much so that I get a little jealous. You light up when he enters the room. Each evening you two make silly faces at each other and it always sends you into giggles. It is a ritual I hope the two of you continue. Your dad doesn't have the bond with you that I do. He didn't carry you for nine months. So seeing you two love each other brings me so much joy.
That is one thing that sticks out to me this month: your joy. You are such a happy little girl. You wake up all smiles and most evenings you go to bed with a smile on your face. You love to talk to yourself in the mirror, and will giggle at your grandma when we facetime with her over the phone. Much to my chagrin, you will even wake in the middle of the night ready to laugh and play.
Your joy is contagious, little girl. You explore the world around you with such gladness that it makes me stop and evaluate my perspective on life.
This world we live in isn't the happiest one. There are pockets of hatred and anger almost everywhere you turn. On the internet people live to argue their opinions, not caring whether their point is made, but rather if they are the loudest. People speak not to change, but to be heard. And I don't feel like that is necessarily a good thing.
My darling, one day you will grow up and discover that the world isn't as happy as we'd like it to be. You will face unhappiness, pain, and failure. You will encounter ugly people that seek only to hurt you. Despite all this, I hope the world never robs you of your joy.
Joy is like fuel to a flame. The more you have the brighter your flame will be. No one else controls your joy but you. I've learned this lesson the hard way. I've let people and situations rob me of my joy. I let them douse my flame. Looking back I realize that the only person that was hurt in the end was me. I can't control what others choose to do, but I can control how I choose to respond.
That is why I hope you choose to respond joyfully. Take on each challenge with that zest for life that I see in you already. Rejoice over the good things in your life. Even the smallest of joys can be worth a celebration. That way when flame-stealers come in hopes of stealing your joy, your flame, you have the strength to remain positive.
With all my love,
Your mother
