Tomorrow you turn three years old. I remember the day you were born; I went to the hospital and you mom was cradling you in the crook of her leg on the hospital bed. Your dad was sitting in a chair next to you guys. I sat down on the end of the bed and watched you breathe. You were sleeping, no doubt you were exhausted.
Now you are turning three, and you and your sister are two of my favorite people. You are a special little girl, Isabel. You make faces even if no one is watching.
You win arguments like girls more than twice your age: you throw a steely glare.
You and your sister are just alike, two goofballs.
Your sister taught you how to draw people, heads really, and she starts by drawing a heart.
That's where all art comes from, Isabel, the heart. Your mother would spend all night sometimes drawing hearts for you to practice the eyes and nose and mouth, but they were never good enough--you always wanted another heart. I think one heart isn't big enough for you. You have too much love, or art, or beauty, or personality for just one heart. That's ok--because you have all ours: your mom, your dad, gramma and grandpa, your sister and your tias and tio, you have all our hearts.
Before I moved away to the other side of the country, you and your mom and your sister rode the train to go see the Glee movie with me. You three stood on the train platform at Roosevelt on a beautiful clear August day and your sister looked at the sky and said, "Mom, why does Tia Emily want to leave? It's so beautiful here." And she's right, Chicago is beautiful--I want to share with you the place in Chicago I think is most beautiful:
Part of my heart is on that beach, little pieces I left behind and buried so I could come back someday and still find I was a part of this city. I love you girls and that place, your mom and Chicago, but sometimes you have to leave parts of yourself behind to go find other, undiscovered parts.
I hope you travel all over the world, and meet lots of interesting people as you grow up. But right now, for your third birthday, I hope most that you feel loved, that all the hearts you draw come back to you in different ways over your lifetime, that you recognize all the love that comes your way as a part of yourself, and that you give it back, and never get too scared to give love out or let love in.
xo, Tia Emily
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