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40 Loves I Want For My Future Children

I want you to know love, in all the ways it ignites the fire that is being alive. I want you to know that love exists as energy does. It cannot be destroyed. It just changes forms. It re-purposes itself, and manifests in so many aspects of this life. It's yours for the taking.
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Hello my darlings.

Thinking about motherhood sends so many emotions through me, like electric, terrifying joy. It shakes every part of my soul. I've been writing about love since I first started to journal in elementary school, but meeting each of you will mean finding the single most astounding and remarkable love I'll ever encounter. You are the love, and the light that I will spend my entire life trying to capture in words. I want you to know that. I want you to know love, in all the ways it ignites the fire that is being alive. I want you to know that love exists as energy does. It cannot be destroyed. It just changes forms. It repurposes itself, and manifests in so many aspects of this life. It's yours for the taking.

1. A love for yourselves. This may be the most challenging love, and one you'll have to fight for throughout your entire lives. But you need it my dears. You need it more than anything, because you can't spread love if you don't have it for yourself.

2. A love for each other. You're a team. The same blood streams through each of your perfect hearts. Fight for one another. Stand by one another.

3. A love for your father. May he be everything you deserve, and more. May he hold you and protect you. May he be uniquely brilliant, and teach you. May he make you laugh, and make you proud. May he be your rock. May he show you the love I found in him, and may you love him like crazy.

4. A love for your passions and talents.

5. A love for the infinite beauty this world has to offer in nature. May you protect it, and embrace its importance.

6. A love for all races.

7. A love for all genders.

8. A love for all ages.

9. A love for all sexualities.

10. A love for peace. May your world continue to be better. May you live life in a way that recognizes that hatred is poison to the soul.

11. A love of knowledge.

12. A love of adventure.

13. A love of integrity and truthfulness.

14. A love for the innocent and outstanding kindness of animals.

15. A love for captivating displays of artistic splendor.

16. A love for music that awakens you. May you let it take you away, and change you.

17. A love for new people, because strangers are only the friends you haven't met yet.

18. A love for activism. May you each stand by what you believe in, and advocate for the people, places and ideas that need the strength of your voices.

19. A love of simple joys.

21. A love for your body. Life will pressure you to abandon this love. Don't listen to the lies. Don't let yourself get swept up in a culture that tries to steal your love for profit. Be proud of who you are, and of the vessel that carries your true beauty.

22. A love for your health.

23. A love of competition and excitement. May you wear your little jerseys with pride, and put your hearts and souls into the games you play, and successes you achieve.

24. A love for conversation. Listen. Express yourself. Without communication, we lose connection. Keep the connection. Keep the love.

25. A love for romanticism. Don't let the world convince you it isn't possible to fall into epic love.

26. A love for spirituality. Whatever paths you each choose, do so because it's what you want. Listen to your hearts. Believe in anything that you want to, and love the opportunity you have to engage in that choice.

27. A love for human differences. May you discover the power of acceptance. May you never condemn others, or judge them. Love them. Love them because we're all different, and that's actually quite remarkable.

28. A love for those who have less than you. May you have compassion and generosity.

30. A love for travel and culture. May you appreciate the breathtaking wonders of this world and of its rare and exceptional people.

31. A love for history.

32. A love for science. May you invent. May you fall in love with innovation.

33. A love for literature. May you fall as in love as your mother did when she was a little girl sneaking into the bathtub at night to try to stay up later to read. May you enter the worlds that only exist in books.

34. A love for many kinds of friends. May you find friendship in a variety of human beings. May you teach other, and constantly grow inside the magnificent realm of companionship.

35. A love for all stages of life. May you never make the mistake of fearing time. Each stage is incredible in different ways. May you never fear your increasing age. Your skin will only gain evidence of past smiles, and your mind will only gain wisdom and appreciation.

36. A love for the difficult lessons. Tears well up behind my eyes thinking about your having to endure hardship. I wish I could ensure that life will be kind to you, or tell you that I can protect you from all of the monsters. I can't do that. What I can do is teach you to love the lessons you will learn, and ways you will grow. May you see the good in life's evils.

37. Loves to fall into. May you fall in incredible love. May others see you for how extraordinary you each are. May they steal your hearts away and handle them with care. May they hold you. May they dance with you. May they awaken your souls the way love is supposed to. May they teach you. May they move you. May they captivate you.

38. A love for your future families. However your families end up being built, love them. Love them, and let me love them. Let us love each other. May you teach them what I will spend every day of my life trying to teach you. May we learn from one another, and rejoice in everything that makes us unique and powerful.

39. A love for life. May you fall in love with this life every single day you live. May you love it when you feel broken. May you love it when you feel divine and inspired. May you love it when you need something to believe in.

40. A love for your mother. May you accept my unending love for you. May you love me despite my human weaknesses. May you love me the way I love my mother, and she loves her mother. May you grant me the honor of your love. May you see the best in who I am. I will always fight for you. I will always be proud of you. I will love you, every day.

May you realize that no matter how dark the world becomes, I will be there. I will always exert every ounce of energy I have to bring you back to the light; back to love.

Always,
Mom in 2015

For more, check out my website at Serendipity and Creativity

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Books Every Woman Should Read
Be Awesome by Hadley Freeman (01 of15)
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Only Hadley (and perhaps Keanu Reeves) can get away with using the word awesome. This book is so compelling that you will have to quickly overcome any aversion to 'that word' as after reading it you will find that you will be unable to resist quoting segments of Hadley's text in daily conversations. Hadley herself is a great lover of quotes and she expertly weaves snippets of dialogue from classic films such as The Princess Bride and Ghostbusters into chapters on life as a modern woman. (credit:Fourth Estate Ltd)
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman(02 of15)
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This short story chillingly depicts a woman's descent into psychosis when her husband locks her in a room and forbids her from working. First published in 1892 it is a brave portrayal of the contemporary attitudes towards women's physical and mental health. (credit:Amazon)
The Humans by Matt Haig(03 of15)
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It doesn't matter what gender you are, this is a great book for thinking about the way people are and how we can show a little empathy. It's also pretty funny. (credit:Canongate Books)
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay(04 of15)
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If you don't know who Roxane Gay is, you soon will. In this collection of political and personal essays Roxane explores how she has grappled to come to terms with her identity as a feminist. If you love pink, can't stop watching the Fast and the Furious or otherwise feel excluded by certain definitions feminism , then you'll love this book. (credit:Harper Perennial)
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham (05 of15)
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It's witty, brutally honest and sets an example to women everywhere that it's okay to not be 'normal' (whatever that is). (credit:Random House)
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath(06 of15)
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The author's first and only novel, The Bell Jar was published just one month before Plath tragically took her own life. The novel explores unsettling themes of depression and is thought (by some) to mirror Plath's own spiral into mental illness. It is also a feminist masterpiece, unpicking uneasy female stereotypes and despairing at what it was to be a woman at the time. (credit:Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
Man at the Helm by Nina Stibbe(07 of15)
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This book teaches you that everything will still be fine and hilarious and okay if your divorcee mum moves you to the countryside and starts writing tragicomic plays and buys a cow. (credit:Little, Brown and Company)
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins(08 of15)
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If you like your teen fiction centered around a strong, but flawed, female main character, then you need to check out Suzanne Collin's distopian trilogy. You'll be hooked within a couple of pages and it is more-than-possible to devour the entire three books in just a few days. (credit:Scholastic Press)
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini(09 of15)
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How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran(10 of15)
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The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf(11 of15)
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Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov(12 of15)
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We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche(13 of15)
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The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood(14 of15)
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Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi(15 of15)
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This graphic novel memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution is equal parts funny and heartbreaking. The book sees Marjane grappling with limitations and freedoms that come with being a 'woman'. (credit:Pantheon)
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