If I should have a daughterâŠâInstead of âMomâ, sheâs gonna call me âPoint B.â Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And Iâm going to paint the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe before she can say âOh, I know that like the back of my hand.â
Sheâs gonna learn that this life will hit you, hard, in the face, wait for you to get back up so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air. There is hurt, here, that cannot be fixed by band-aids or poetry, so the first time she realizes that Wonder-woman isnât coming, Iâll make sure she knows she doesnât have to wear the cape all by herself. Because no matter how wide you stretch your fingers, your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal. Believe me, Iâve tried.
And âBaby,â Iâll tell her âdonât keep your nose up in the air like that, I know that trick, youâre just smelling for smoke so you can follow the trail back to a burning house so you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. Or else, find the boy who lit the fire in the first place to see if you can change him.â
But I know that she will anyway, so instead Iâll always keep an extra supply of chocolate and rain boats nearby, âcause there is no heartbreak that chocolate canât fix. Okay, thereâs a few heartbreaks chocolate canât fix. But thatâs what the rain boots are for, because rain will wash away everything if you let it.
I want her to see the world through the underside of a glass bottom boat, to look through a magnifying glass at the galaxies that exist on the pin point of a human mind. Because thatâs how my mom taught me. That thereâll be days like this, âThereâll be days like this my momma saidâ when you open your hands to catch and wind up with only blisters and bruises. When you step out of the phone booth and try to fly and the very people you wanna save are the ones standing on your cape. When your boots will fill with rain and youâll be up to your knees in disappointment and those are the very days you have all the more reason to say âthank you,â âcause there is nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline no matter how many times itâs sent away.
You will put the âwindâ in win some lose some, you will put the âstarâ in starting over and over, and no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life.
And yes, on a scale from one to over-trusting I am pretty damn naive but I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar. It can crumble so easily but donât be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it.
âBaby,â Iâll tell her âremember your mama is a worrier but your papa is a warrior and you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking for more.â
Remember that good things come in threes and so do bad things and always apologize when youâve done something wrong but donât you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining.
Your voice is small but donât ever stop singing and when they finally hand you heartbreak, slip hatred and war under your doorstep and hand you hand-outs on street corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother.
