Today was not a big day by anyone else’s measure. Nothing was signed, nothing was launched. But something happened in my house that I want to write down before it fades, because it was one of the better things I have done as a mother, and it cost me a pen and some paper.
Chapter 1: The Idea
It came to me in the morning, in one of those quiet moments before the day starts asking for things. I would write my children love notes. Actual notes, by hand, in envelopes. I had never done it before. I tell them I love them often enough, but I had never put it on paper where they could keep it, and once the idea arrived I could not think of a good reason not to.
So I sat down and wrote. It took longer than I expected. It turns out that writing to your child what you actually feel about them is harder than saying it in passing, because there is nowhere to hide on a page.
Chapter 2: The Handover
I was nervous all day, which surprised me. When school ended and they came through the door with the usual noise, I handed each of them an envelope. They looked at me the way children look at a parent who is behaving unusually, curious and a little suspicious, and then they opened them.
Chapter 3: What Happened Next
They read quietly, which almost never happens. I had written about how much I love them, and also what I hope for them: happiness, success on their own terms, the courage to go after whatever it is they want. Their eyes filled. So did mine. For a few minutes nobody said much, and the house felt closer than it had that morning. I did not expect a few handwritten lines to do that. They did.
Chapter 4: Where It Goes From Here
The notes are going to become a tradition. I want them to have something to hold that says, in my handwriting, that I am on their side. Already they have opened a door: the conversations since have been more honest, about dreams and fears and the things children do not usually volunteer at dinner. My hope is simple. That they walk into their challenges a little more confident, knowing that someone wrote it down.
That was the notable thing that happened today. A mother wrote some notes and her children read them. It sounds small. It was not. If there is someone you love who has never seen it in your handwriting, consider this your nudge. Paper is cheap, and the moment lasts.
