It’s the easiest thing in the world to tell you I love you. But you need to know why I want you to feel it. In your bones. With bells on. It will set you up, this love of mine, to love yourself and others well in your future. That is worth everything to me.

You remind me how to play, and how to avoid that split feeling of having one foot in a game with you, and one foot in having to sort out the washing. You help me focus, relax, play. And for that, I am grateful.

We all bloom in different ways, and need different kinds of conditions in which to thrive. And as we have discovered in our family, being in bloom can be cut short - so we should make sure we slow down to smell the roses whenever we can.

Boundaries. Hard to define and constantly being negotiated (and renegotiated) as we evolve and our needs change. Knowing who to invite in, or keep out, and knowing when to move our boundaries is a life’s work.

If I am able to tend to my needs, then I am able to tend to yours too. In this letter, I’ll share that knowing what you need, and making sure you tend to your needs, is at the heart of self-care - and self-regulation.

As you change, I change - and we are in a constant dance of evolution and emergence together. Let’s tune in to each other and notice the changes along the way.