Hello Little One,

You made it to Twenty years…
Wow…I’m surprised myself that you made it this far, but I wanted to say Congratulations!

You didn’t have much expectations coming into this world on October 15th, 1998. You were such a small, fragile, bald, alien-looking (according to Dad) thing. Your parents decided to name you Katelyn instead of Mandy. Thank God they picked Katelyn because if they chose the other one, you probably would’ve held a grudge against them your entire life (just kidding…maybe).

• The first Halloween you can remember you were Snow White and you felt so pretty because that was the first time Mom did your hair and makeup.
• The first time you swam you said out loud “I can’t do it, I can’t do it!” but then Mom and Dad said “Yes you can!” so you just jumped in and kicked and splashed as hard as you could! You couldn’t believe it but you were swimming! You were in disbelief and said “I did it!” with Mom and Dad cheering in the background.
• The first time you attended school was Miss Wendy’s preschool class, you were scared because is was the first time you were away from Mom and Dad. You can’t quite remember how that particular day went, but you can remember school was fun and you liked going to see all your friends (literally the entire school) and teachers (and don’t forget nap time, you loved nap time!).
• The first time you lied was in first grade and you lied about dropping the $20 that your teacher had found on the ground near the classroom and just your luck Dad had been missing $20 from his wallet and both Mom and Dad thought you were lying about stealing it from Dad’s pants. The irony that you were actually telling the truth that it wasn’t his $20 but karma decided to come back around for lying in the first place.

A couple years pass and you’re no longer the baby of the family because on December 6th, 2003, Mom and Dad brought a fat heavy headed lively doll back from the hospital. You thought to yourself “this is an ugly looking doll…and it’s head is so heavy!” but yet that’s the first time you ever loved another human being so much (despite all the times they cried and drove you crazy for the next 14 years).

A year [or two] after that you met your first love…soccer. At first you didn’t know how it was physically possible to play with your feet, but eventually it became so natural and you didn’t even have to think about it anymore. You didn’t realize you would dedicate 12 years of your blood, sweat, and tears to this sport and also didn’t expect to make so many friendships and memories, as well as it teach you so much about life along the way.

I honestly thought you weren’t gonna live past the age of 14 because that year was 2012 and people said the world was ending and so you were just like “Welp, don’t really gotta think of my future now since the world is ending in December!” then of course it turned 2013 and you realized the world really wasn’t going to end and you thought: “Crap, now what do I do?”

Fast forward six years later and here you are typing this blog…Congratulations you survived two decades! You’ve been through a lot in these past two decades and I just wanted to say how proud I am of you. You’ve been through some crazy adventures, some amazing highs and some really shitty lows…You learned what you liked and what you didn’t. You met new faces and had to say goodbye to old ones. You’ve been stretched in different ways and pulled in every direction. You’ve grown so much and you now have goals and dreams you plan on accomplishing in the near-time future…You’re definitely no longer that  small, fragile, bald, alien-looking baby.

Always remember little one you can do anything you put your mind to and don’t let anyone else tell you otherwise, just like the first time you swam.
Always remember little one you are beautiful outside (even if you hate wearing makeup) and you are beautiful inside despite what those voices say, just like your first Halloween.
Always remember little one to be honest to yourself and to be honest to others because you should never lie, just like in the first grade.
Always remember little one to continue to grow and learn (and occasionally nap), just like the first time in preschool.

Always surround yourself with love and people who will push you to the best of your abilities because without them you wouldn’t have made it to this 20 year mark.
Always love others even if at times you think they don’t deserve it because everyone deserves love and God loves you even if you might think you don’t deserve it.

Always stay true to who you are and live life to the best of your abilities because it might not feel like it at the time, but you’ll get through it in the end.

Happy Birthday Little One, you made it!

Love,

Kate