{April A-Z Challenge} The letter B

B is for … Baby

Dear 6 month old self

Sitting on your blanket right at that moment, do you have idea how much love you are surrounded with?

Do you know the direction your life is going to take?

Your mom, dad and maternal grandparents are standing behind that camera lens watching as you coo and smile prettily for them as their hearts are exploding with love.

Will you live up to their expectations and make them proud?

Let me tell you about the life you will lead … What will happen as you grow from being an innocent baby into the woman you are today:

Your mom has a white cat named Stevie. She has had her before your mom and dad even knew each other and your mom said that Stevie was her 1st child. (All animal lovers will understand this)

Stevie is your watch-guard. She will teach you that cats are elusive and will taunt you by sitting just out of your reach flicking her tail at you.

However, Stevie will always be near you. She will call your mom when you wake up or cry and she will love you right up to the day she is killed by dogs. You will see your mom crying uncontrollably and not be able to do a thing to console her.

When you turn 2, an SPCA rescue dog named Mindy will become a part of the family. Mindy will show you that animals are God’s perfect creation. They are kind and loving. Even when you ride her like a pony, she will let you, because she knows that later on, you will give her a lick of your ice-cream cone or a chew on your stick of biltong (similar to jerky)

And one day when you are 17, you will come home from school and your dad will come home from work and she will wag her tail one more time, look at each of you and pass away quietly. She is the last dog you will love that much because in your mind she is irreplaceable.

Your brother is born when you are 3 and he is a very sweet-natured little boy with a gentle heart and sweet smile. He is so much like your dad.

He will will make you realise that sometimes you can be selfish but you do nothing about it, Only later will you learn that the responsibilities of being a big sister are not to be taken lightly.

As you grow up, you play trucks in the sand and run around the field with the bulls and play with the goslings. You have lots of silkworms, and every day you go outside to pick mulberry leaves to feed them.

He lets you give him the blue Monopoly money ($5) in exchange for the pretty pink Monopoly money ($50) without once considering that you may be taking advantage, because you are his big sister and he loves you.

You will watch Top Secret a hundred times and never get bored and after Mac Gyver is finished, you will go to his room and concoct a plan involving lots of string; much to the dismay of your mother. When you come up with the silly idea of making candles by melting wax crayons in a glass bottle, he gamely follows your lead.

All these experiences will teach you valuable lessons. You will learn about laughter, kindness and the value of unconditional love.

Your dad will teach you that hard work will keep you honest. He will teach you never to give up no matter how difficult life may become.

He will give you everything he has just to see you smile, like an ice-cream cone on a Sunday afternoon or a family holiday that took forever to save for so that you can all see the ocean.

Your mom will teach you to have a sense of humour and to not let bad-intentioned people affect your sense of self-worth.

She will try to help you complete your knitting assignment but end up dropping stitches instead! She will walk the streets with you for hours to raise money for your debutante year at school.

Your grandmother will teach you not to be wasteful because she came from a time where the depression meant true poverty.

When you are run over by a car and almost lose your thumb, she will entertain you for hours playing Rummy and bring you coffee in bed and grated apples when the medication makes you sick.

Your grandfather will guide you and teach you to work with your hands. You will learn that life is about more than television.

When you want him to smile, you will make him pancakes or flapjacks and he will tell you it is the best food he has ever had.

When he breaks his ankle, you sit with him on the patio and draw colourful patterns on his cast.

Appreciate all those moments.

All too suddenly, your grandparents will be taken from you and you will have wished that you had worried less about boys, being locked up in your room listening to music and talking on the phone to your friends.

You will yearn to hear your grandfather’s war stories and your gran’s stories about having to leave school to support her family and never learning to swim or realise her dream of becoming a tap-dancer.

You will wish that you had played more games with your brother (like the time he offered to play Barbies just so that you would spend time with him) instead of shouting at him to leave your room. Before you know it, he grows up and goes through a difficult phase that affects your entire family. Perhaps you should have encouraged him to have more confidence instead of hearing him cry in his room and thinking he was a baby?

Would his life have taken a different path of you had been a better big sister?

Never fear little one.

You are the person you were meant to become. You are who you are because your family always believed in you and have always loved you.

Never forget that. Remember to be the best person you can be. That is the best gift you will ever give them. (And try not to be too selfish please!)