Priscilla
and I are so happy to welcome our daughter August! We wrote her a
letter about the world we hope she grows up in, and also hoping she
doesn’t grow up too fast.
—
Dear August,
Welcome to the world! Your mom and I are so excited to see who you will become.
When your sister was born, we wrote a letter about the world we hoped
she and now you will grow up in — a world with better education, fewer
diseases, stronger communities, and greater equality. We wrote that with
all the advances in science and technology, your generation should live
dramatically better lives than ours, and we have a responsibility to do
our part to make that happen. Even though headlines often focus on
what’s wrong, we still believe these positive trends will win out. We’re
optimists about your generation and the future.
But rather than
write about growing up, we want to talk about childhood. The world can
be a serious place. That’s why it’s important to make time to go outside
and play.
You will be busy when you’re older, so I hope you take
time to smell all the flowers and put all the leaves you want in your
bucket now. I hope you read your favorite Dr. Seuss books so many times
you start inventing your own stories about the Vipper of Vipp. I hope
you ride the carousel with Max until you’ve tamed every color horse. I
hope you run as many laps around our living room and yard as you want.
And then I hope you take a lot of naps. I hope you’re a great sleeper.
And I hope even in your dreams you can feel how much we love you.
she and now you will grow up in — a world with better education, fewer
diseases, stronger communities, and greater equality. We wrote that with
all the advances in science and technology, your generation should live
dramatically better lives than ours, and we have a responsibility to do
our part to make that happen. Even though headlines often focus on
what’s wrong, we still believe these positive trends will win out. We’re
optimists about your generation and the future.
But rather than
write about growing up, we want to talk about childhood. The world can
be a serious place. That’s why it’s important to make time to go outside
and play.
You will be busy when you’re older, so I hope you take
time to smell all the flowers and put all the leaves you want in your
bucket now. I hope you read your favorite Dr. Seuss books so many times
you start inventing your own stories about the Vipper of Vipp. I hope
you ride the carousel with Max until you’ve tamed every color horse. I
hope you run as many laps around our living room and yard as you want.
And then I hope you take a lot of naps. I hope you’re a great sleeper.
And I hope even in your dreams you can feel how much we love you.
Childhood is magical. You only get to be a child once, so don’t spend
it worrying too much about the future. You’ve got us for that, and we’ll
do everything we possibly can to make sure the world is a better place
for you and all children in your generation.
August, we love you
so much and we’re so excited to go on this adventure with you. We wish
you a life of joy, love and the same hope you give us.
Love,
Mom and Dad