I got a card from my mother that I have kept for over four years now. It’s been on my fridge the last three. I read it every so often to remember what those words meant to me at the time. How they still resound meaning after all these years. I guess we all have a card like that.

The card poem came at a time, I really didn’t believe in myself, or in my dreams. I was hopeless and resigned. In fact, nothing I did would have mattered. I was as far down the pit of despair as you could go – trapped with no way out. But this card, it sparked a shining hope in my heart. The words lifted my spirit, and I began to dream and seek.

It stayed tucked in my car visor for a long time. No one knew what it meant to me. Only I could open the glow of a new life and seek it’s warmth, it’s growth, knowing it was more than just a card, but a proclamation of what lay inside me.

As my daughter approaches her sixteenth birth year in May. I’d like to dedicate this poem to her. My daughter, I wish for you to dream. I wish for your soul to soar. May you always be bright with the beauty of the world God has made for you. May you always know the awes of your heart and follow them true.

My Wishes for You
a special poem on your birthday by Emily Matthews.

I wish these things for you –
to be in love with life each day,

To keep your sense of wonder
and ability to play,

To always pay attention
to the dreams within your heart,

And always have
the faith to try
or make
a brand-new start….

I wish for you a world of joy
to share and pass along,

The gift of those
who make you laugh
and keep you going strong,

The knowledge
that there’s meaning
in the things you choose to do,

And the certainty
you’re cared about
for simply being you.

Everything that will make you happy,
everything that will keep you feeling fulfilled and in love with life – that’s what I wish for you on your birthday and always

My card was signed,
We love you and are so very proud of you.
Mom and Carl

The last thing I deserved in the midst of the mess my life was called – was pride. But man how it changed me just knowing it, hearing it, and feeling it. Mom, you may never know what a difference that made to me. You have always been there no matter what, but somehow you knew just what I needed to hear, to get me out of the rut. THANK YOU. I can only pray the gift is passed on, right when she needs it.