A love letter to my daughter.

Hello people,

You should probably settle in with a cup of tea or a snack. This post is going to be a long one. The relationship between mother and daughter is a magical and beautiful thing. There is a tie that goes directly from my heart to hers. It cannot be broken, torn or tattered. We have been through many emotional storms in her short twenty years. I will never forget the day I went to parent teacher night. All the students in her class had work they had done laid upon their tiny little desks for all of us proud parents to view. There were pictures she had drawn and assignments she had completed. But it was the short story she had written that made the tie between our two hearts vibrate. She had written a story, ( so eloquent for an elementary student ) about cancer. It explained how her dad had leukemia, and her mom had breast cancer. It explained that she had cancer too. Worry cancer that is. I wanted to sob. To wrap her in my arms and protect her from every hurt that could come her way. That day, I realized my sweet child no longer held childish concerns. In fact, she was a tiny adult, trapped in a child's body.

Years have passed since that day. She has always been more adult than her years. Despite my battle to allow her to be young and carefree, she has had to deal with more than she should ever have had to for her youth. Just yesterday I saw the transition of the parent taking care of her child, to the child taking care of her parent. I was ill again yesterday. She cared for me like a pro. With medical knowledge beyond her years. She gave me nausea medicine. She ran me a bath, made me dry toast. Better than any nurse could ever be to me, because she cared for me with love and tenderness. Today I am feeling better. So, I sit here and ponder the mystery of love between a mother and a daughter. I reflect on how I told her " she has had to grow up to fast and shouldn't have to take care of me on her day off" She said " she would rather take care of me on her day off than know I was sick and have to be at work and not be able to care for me" To my heart those word are beautiful. It is her actions that show the world her love.

I pray that from now through the rest of her life that she knows how much she is loved and cherished by me. I want to see both of my children happy and doing well in life. I want them to know and never forget that I love them. I pray that there is more joy than there is pain. Yes, My husband has leukemia, and I have terminal breast cancer. But the thing that I have discovered i share with my daughter, is I have worry cancer too.

I love you daughter, I will slways worry, hope and pray for you.

Mom

Leslie