“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.”

Winston Churchill

Your life is a building. Every day is a room. Every year is a floor.

365 days in a year. That’s 365 rooms on each floor. (Except on leap years, when you’re gifted an extra room!)

The first few floors are very noisy. Tears almost every day in almost every room. Life is hard when you need help with everything!

But the ones who love you are watching every moment and celebrating all your firsts. A room for your first hiccup! A room for your first demand! A room for your first stroll!

Your building is getting taller!

One day you open the door to your first day of school. Your building will have floors and floors and floors of school days. Kindergarten on the 5th and 6th floors. 3rd grade on the 8th and 9th.

Rooms and rooms and rooms and rooms and rooms of children learning. Actually, every room in your building is a classroom. More books to add to your bookshelf every day.

Here’s the room where you learned to write your own name. A signature on every paper now. Neat or messy? That’s really up to you.

This is the room where you learned that six plus six equals twelve. Simple now, but it wasn’t then. Math is hard for some of us. For some of us it isn’t. Good thing, you’ll add new friends and teachers to remind you what matters.

“You are not defined by a number on a test! You are defined by your effort when things are hard and your humility when they are not.”

Now you’re learning how to learn with love. Let me show you who’s waiting in the next room…

IT’S YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND!

You like purple flowers? I like purple flowers! You like waffle fries? I like waffle fries!

You speak the same language even when you’re silent. They love your weird side. They feed your happy habits. They lift you up to the next floor.

And you’ll need them for all the bad days and bad rooms. Every building has them, even the fancy ones.

Broken window rooms. Broken bone rooms. Broken heart rooms. Pee your pants during the spelling bee rooms! Hit by a fastball right in the shoulder blade rooms! Fights with your best friend rooms.

There will be days when you’ll want to bolt the door behind you and never look back. But trust me, always keep the day’s door open. Open the curtains. Open the window. Let the air in. Talk about the hard times with the ones who love you. The floors above will thank you.

You’re moving on up! Big birthdays ahead on the 16th and 21st floors with many mistakes in between.  High school to end. Friendships to mend. Fender benders to tend. Love letters to send.

Parties to miss too. Take a hike around a lake instead. Find a perfectly round stone. It’s okay to skip things!

Define yourself again. Then redefine. And refine. Find a job and another. Find yourself and another. Again and again and again.

Keep searching the world. Find a cause and a calling. Find freedom. Find kindness. Find silence and solitude. Find God. Or don’t. Some will. Some won’t.

Find that lost friend from long ago. Give old buildings a chance. Forgive yourself and always let the fresh air in.

Now climb! Keep learning! Keep loving, little one!

Look up! That’s where we’re headed. Our lives will scrape the sky!