September 10, 2012

September 10, 2012

To my future child,

You are going to be born into a family of different cultures.  You will grow up speaking both Spanish and English and celebrate both your Mexican Heritage and your American Heritage.  You my sweet child represent one of the new norms of our society with bicultural children. 

I want you to be proud of your culture.  When the national anthem is played, I want you to stand up and place your hand over your heart, looking at our beautiful flag and show the respect for our country not also for the men and women that have served to protect it (or who are currently serving). 

I also want you to be proud to be Mexican.  I want you to learn the real meaning of the feast of epiphany Dia de lo Santos Reyes, Cinco de Mayo (it’s not just a day to drink), Dia de San Pedro, and the importance of September 16^th in Mexico.

America is a great country, however we are not perfect.  You need to respect, appreciate and protect the good parts while fighting to change the parts that we haven’t gotten right yet. 

As an American, you should know who John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Madeline Albright, Martin L. King Jr., William Clinton, Abraham Lincoln, and President Obama so you will know how to speak and understand how to unite and inspire individuals.

As a Mexican, you should know who Octavio Paz, Antonio de Mendoza, Jeronimo de Aguilar, Vincente Guerrero, Javier Mina, Carlos Salinas de Gortari. 

Because these women were so important to history and everything that your momma has accomplished in life, know who Susan B. Anthony, Rachel Carson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Cady Stanton, Grace Hopper, Sally Ride, Sandra Day O’Connor, Margaret Thatcher, Clara Barton, Harriet Tubman, Ella Fitzgerald, Elena Kagan, Hillary Clinton, Clara Barton, Helen Keller, Maya Lin, Mother Theresa, and Rosa Parks are.

You need to know who Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Kim Jong-il, Muammar Gaddafi and why they should never be forgotten and why their acts should not be repeated. 

You also need to know who Tim McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, David Duke, Randy Weaver and know that terrorism does not need to happen far away on foreign soils but can happen right outside your doors and forever change your world.

You need to remember the following dates:
      4/19/1995 Oklahoma City bombing
      4/20/1999 Columbine shooting
      9/11/2001 September 11th terror attacks
      4/16/2007 Virginia Tech shootings

Remember that history happens everyday.  It’s not just something that you read about in books at school.  You are a lucky kid because your grandparents live next door to one of the most powerful places in the world which is full of some of the best history in the United States.  You’ll be lucky enough to travel and see the sights that your classmates might only get to see in their textbooks.  As lucky as you are, take those experiences and teach them and tell the stories behind them and never forget what happened so that the acts of individuals like Hitler and Gaddafi won’t be repeated in your generation.

Until next time....

See you in my dream....

Love your momma, Jennifer

September 7, 2012

To my future child,

Your father and I have just started the process of bringing you into the world.  I dream about you at night, and the hopes that I have for you and your future.  Both your father and I are working hard so that you will have all of the opportunities available to you no matter what your gender is.  If you want to grow up to join the military or be a firefighter, a counselor like your mother, or work in the school like your father, you’ll have all of the choices available to you unlike your grandparents did.

Even though you aren’t even in my tummy, I want to write down some advice for you, my future child.  You can read this letter one day when you think that your life isn’t going your way, or you are mad at you parents because we said that you couldn’t go somewhere.

One of the main reasons why I married your father was because of his love of family.  Remember that no matter what, family always comes first.  Your mother and father love you very much.  We will love you even if you come home with your hair pink.  Our love for you is endless and unconditional.

All of your grandparents are intelligent, amazing people.  My parents (Frank, Sue and Carla) all grew up in poverty and rose above it to make a better life for their children.  Your daddy’s parents immigrated from Mexico with very little, and worked hard to make sure that their children would not have to work on the orchards.  Learn from them, respect them, love them, and know that you time with them is limited.

You will have a lot of people that love you and can’t wait to meet you and spoil you.  They might not be biologically related to you, but regardless they are family.  They were placed in your life for a reason, respect them, learn for them, and most of all love them like they already love you.

Never stop learning.  From the moment that I feel you kick, I’ll be reading to you (so will daddy but he will read comics so you can have a wild imagination like he does).  Never take school for granted, but know that you can learn some of the best things in life outside of the classroom.

Learn good manners and etiquette.  We live in a society where manners don’t seem to matter anymore, however you will be taught how to be a gentleman or a lady.  You’ll thank me one day and so will the people you meet in life.

As your mother’s child, you’ll learn this early on; however don’t take yourself too seriously.  Laugh at yourself when you can, if you can’t laugh at yourself, reevaluate the situation and find another situation.

Accept responsibility for your mistakes and own actions.  If you make a mistake, admit to it.  Sometimes the biggest mistakes in life become our best success stories.  Always remember no matter how big your mistake is, you can always talk to your father and me.  We might be disappointed in you, you might get grounded, but we will never stop loving you.

Remember once you start something, you have to finish it.  There has been many times where I have wanted to stop going to school because it’s too much with work, or the class is too hard, however I just look at everything day to day and see the light at the end of the tunnel getting smaller and smaller.

You might have a bug where you want to change the world; however you won’t be able to do it in a day.  Changing the world is making small positive changes in our society.  It’s standing up for someone who is being bullying, or standing up for a cause that you believe in.  Find your passion, whatever it is; you have your biggest fans with your father and I.

Never be jealous of others.  There are always going to have others with things nicer than yours.  Be grateful for the small things in life, a beautiful sunset, or how the mountains are perfectly placed. 

Both your father and I have been handed difficult situations in our lives; however we try our hardest not to blame others or to be a victim.  Never be a victim – the saying when life hands you a lemon, make lemonade use it freely.  Look at every situation as a positive thing (even if the situation is awful and your day is truly an awful terrible bad day) things always do get better in the morning.

Even though there will be moments, days (especially when you are a teenager) where you will hate us, call your grandparents on us; just remember that you are very much wanted.  Your father and I dreamed about you for three years, and every night in my dreams I would see you.  You are very much wanted, and very much loved.

The last piece of advice for tonight (know that you’ll have more before we’ll find out that we are even pregnant), always be nice to animals.  Your father and I love our dogs, and they are our children.  We will always have dogs.  Be good to our dogs.  They will be your best friends, people (I know that they aren’t people, but if Rufus could talk, he would tell you that he was one) that you can always talk too when you feel like you have no one else.  I used to pray to God that he would bring someone into my life that loved me as much as my childhood dog did.  They will always be happy to see you, no matter how bad you look, or how rotten your day was, their wag of their tails will cheer you up.

I will see you in my dreams tonight…

Love your future momma,

Jennifer