To my boys, during election week

Dearest Sawyer and Sully,

Tomorrow is a big day at home, in the country we don’t live in, but the one we love and will return to one day. It’s a big day where every American can cast their vote for a person to lead the country, and we all hope this future leader will do good things and care for the people in our nation.

Tomorrow we, your parents, hope to gain a change in Leadership, and we hope Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris end up the face of our beautiful nation, and we can at minimum hope that the tides change to support the following:

We hope that our friends can use their voices, no matter what color–black, brown, yellow, pale, white, or in-between.

We hope that love sees no gender in union and any couple wanting to join is allowed the happiness they deserve and wish for.

We hope women do not have to defend the right always to protect their ability to be a mother, or the decision to be without children, and that women can remain the decision makers in matters concerning their bodies.

We hope that truth can be spread in print or in verbal communication in a way that is never censored, discarded, belittled, or discredited by those in power meant to lead.

We hope that humanity, love, and kindness break through and are the foundation in bringing light to shitty times and circumstances, and I truly hope that you both, both of you boys, understand that you are NO DIFFERENT than the people you meet who struggle the most.

Sawyer and Sully—you are both the most beautiful, thoughtful, and curious humans I have met of late. Please do me one favor—Never assume your people in life are saying and doing things that are just and fair and right. Think for yourselves, and follow your hearts.

Walk forward with your intuition and conscience and what feels right deep inside your chest, and know that the right path is often the most difficult and least walked upon in life. If you choose a path that brings you hardship, you have likely gone the right course, because right choices comes sometimes with confusion, pain, and second guessing.

You are both truly meant for great things–but know I don’t mean conquering lands, or completing video games. I mean only this:

You are both kind and loving and fair, and if that’s all you end up to be in life, it will be more than enough. Be the men who hugs a stranger when they cry in public with no support. Be the men who lead quietly and strongly, when you are surrounded by others who feed off attention. Be the men who never forget where they’re from, or what made your spark flicker first.

Be the first to say were wrong, that you don’t understand, that you need a second chance, that you did the best you could, and that above all else, you showed up, you loved big and hard, that you had zero regrets, and that everyone that ever meant something to you knew it, and believed it, and felt it. Make them feel it.

On election day/week, I want you to understand how important you are, you always will be, and you can change the world with every word you use, and every action you take. This week and always may seem like the winds will shift the world for good or evil with little notice, and things will always change. Know this though, be kind, be bold, and be who you want to Lead, and you will be ok for all of time.

And no matter where I am, near or far, I will love you both to the moon and back, forever and ever.

All my love, Mommy