As parents, we often try to sugarcoat a situation so that our child doesn’t have to feel discomfort, fear or embarrassment. We shelter our kids from homelessness, avoid conversations about masturbation, hide disease and generally sidestep anything related to pain. We want our children to live a happy, safe and secure existence where suffering, confusion and fear doesn’t exist — unfortunately, this is delusional. “Letters to Mica” is a sincere and brutally honest account of how I experience life with my son — both as a new mother and as an American expat living in Portugal. It’s a genuine attempt to not only share life as it’s happening in the moment, but to provide life lessons that will hopefully become part of his future toolbox. These heartfelt, and often humorous, stories are not only for new mothers, or foreigners living far from home, but for anyone who needs to feel connected to humanity, if only for a moment.