Dear Daughter, Open This Letter When I Die
We all pass away, so I’m preparing for it with a “death pack“ ”which includes letters to my child.
Dear daughter,
I can’t believe you’re getting married today! I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there. I’m sure you look beautiful. This is the first day of your new life…
That’s how the first letter went. I wrote about 40 of these. I did it even before my little girl was born. Each one was hand-written on beautiful stationery (excess thank you cards from our wedding) and sealed in envelopes with the names of important future events on the front. This particular one said, “On Your Wedding Day”.
When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, I was elated. It took a while before we were able to conceive — almost a whole year after getting married. Like any mom-to-be, dread started to set in soon after finding out we were expecting. Among the many negative thoughts were those of death. So, I started writing to my yet-to-be-born child when I was only a few weeks pregnant with her.
The very first one I wrote was the letter that was meant to be opened on her wedding day. Then, I worked my way back from there. I wrote one for the first day of school, for her first relationship, her first heartbreak, her first job. I…
