Dear 12-Year-Old

Dear 12-year-old,

Wow. That was a year. You could call it a doozie. 

Here's a quick recap:

• The world stopped for something called Covid-19 and toilet paper ran out for a few days. Way too many people got sick and died. And it's way too hard (while it's still going on) to wrap our heads around the toll it's taken on the world.
• Everybody got a chance to see how unfair, unjust, and sometimes murderous we've all been to people for no other reason than the colour of their skin, their religious beliefs, their gender, where they were born, and so on.
• Many people in leadership positions completely lost their minds in the pursuit of power, fame and wealth. Other people in leadership positions tried very hard to cope with a world where overnight all the rules changed - some did great and others did their best. 
• For a few months, we had a chance to see what it was like to have almost no airplanes in the sky and next to no traffic on the roads. You could almost hear nature releasing the big breath it had been holding for centuries.
• Masks and hand sanitizers became all the rage.
• Out on the streets, in the parks, in the stores that were open, there were some persnickety people who would dole out the stink-eye for no reason, but for the most part, people were really nice to each other. Neighbours met each other. People bought dogs and walked them all the time. Families took walks together. Even in the winter. Especially in the winter.
• We watched loads of tv. The end of The Good Place. Every episode of Community and Parks and Rec. Half of Memories of Alhambra and How I Met Your Mother (for example).
• School moved from classrooms to computers, back to classrooms, back to computers, and back to classrooms again.
• Zoom went from having no part in our lives to being as common as the common cold (which, by the way, became very uncommon).
• We moved.
• When this started, you were taking swimming lessons, skiing, speed skating, and piano. Only piano survived (and you aced your first piano exam).
• You learned that "obvious" has a b in it. Which should have been ovious.

In the last 12 months - from the time you turned 11 to the time you turned 12 - everything changed. 

You sailed through a very difficult year and almost never lost your sh*t (that's a polite way to say 'shit', which, as far as I know, you've never said out loud despite hearing your family say it all. the. time.) It was so much fun to be cooped up with you, and the amount of time I had with you this last year almost makes me wish it would go on for another year. But it wouldn't be fair to you or to the world to let that happen.

You changed too, but in the way that a beautiful sunrise changes into a beautiful day. The glimpses into your amazing mind and personality that you've been giving us ever since you were born, they're not just glimpses anymore. We see them all the time now. 

And now you're 12.

Being 12 means starting to get ready to stop always being a kid. 

Being 12 means you don't have to accept the world the way it is anymore. You can start your work of changing it. Whatever you see around you that you don't like - that's fair game for you to make better. I've always been too passive and optimistic and complacent and satisfied with the world. You can be better than me on all those things. 

My advice...?

Be confident. The world needs smart, strong, hard-working, compassionate, funny girls like you to believe in yourselves and accept nothing the way it is. Learn from your sisters, and when people tell you they're trying and failing to do what's right, tell them "that's not good enough". 

Be brave. You have tons of common sense (just like your dad) so you can also afford to be bold and try things. Don't play truth or dare, but do dare to be truthful.

Be a kid. Sometimes, you're going to feel pressure to act older than you are, or to feel embarrassed to do some of the things you love doing. That is such nonsense. Don't bother with people who make you feel that way.

Enjoy every minute of what has to be a better year than the last one.

I love you so much.

Dad