Dear Kids,
I have brought you into this world and watched and helped you grow. You have turned from helpless infants into small people and each day I am awed and amazed at how the two of you have grown. Every day you develop your own personalities a little more and I am given a glimpse into the future of who you will become. Each day you learn a little more and I am honored to have helped you in your struggles and also in your triumphs. Each day you remind me of all that the world has to offer you, and I am reminded of the most important lesson that you must take and carry on with you.
I love you both deeply, but know this…. You are average.
That may have sounded harsh but let me explain. You both are in a world where dreams can come true, dreams can be broken and dreams can never even happen. You were born with two feet (average), two hands(average), one mouth (also average), two eyes (average)….. Are you getting the point yet?
Daddy and I brought you into this world with the same tools as everyone else. You are the average. You can walk and talk just like anyone else and you live in a home like most people do. You have parents that care about you all the time and suck some of the time. You have a full life of love, learning, feeling, being and experiencing all of this world ahead of you, and the tools that you were given from the start are the same as almost anyone else.
Let me explain further… You see, you were both born with the same thing that most of us are born with physically. You were born average. Remember this because there seems to be an epidemic of amazingness going on right around you. Some babies are brought into this world and told how wonderful and awesome they are. Some babies are put on that pedestal from day one. They only have amazing and awesome to look forward to for the rest of their lives.
You both, on the other hand, have average to look forward to. That is, unless you choose other wise. “There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you.” Derek Jeter
Dad and I have given you both the basic necessities. We have ensured that you will lead an average life, but if you realize now how average you are, you and only you can turn that into something extroidinary. You both possess the power to achieve anything that you can dream of. Litereally any idea that you can come up with, is possible, as long as you have the will to fight for it and go get it. You may have been born average just like everyone else, but your heart and your soul can make you anything but average if you truly want to.
It will be hard for you. There are so many children out there now that are told from birth that they are amazing. These children will end up in your lives and and in your classes. They will be the ones that think that the teacher is only talking to them… because they are amazing, of course. They will be the children that change the rules of the game because they aren’t winning and the ones that must be the line leader every day. Don’t stress over it too much, they were just never informed of how average that they are.
This is my gift to you. I want you both to realize how average that you are. You are like everyone else and nothing that you have is any greater… unless you make it greater. Look, your blood flows red and dries black just like mine. Your Mom has wiped your behind more times than she cares to count. You have had to learn to walk, talk, eat, dress yourself, just like everyone else. We are all born average.
If tomorrow you wake up wanting to be a fireman, I can tell you this. You will be average at fighting fires. You will have to work and sweat and live and die to fight those fires to be the best fire fighter that you could ever be…. only then will you move from average to slightly above average.
It takes really hard work, and a whole lot of mind and soul to go from average to awesome. Some people have done it. A lot of people have… but I promise this, they never once just got to be awesome because their Mommy said so. I won’t lie to you both and fill your minds with the ideas that you are outstanding. I will tell you that you both have the heart and soul to be such. You just have to want it. You have to fight for it, like its your life that is at stake. The ones that can do that, actually become more than average.
In my eyes you will both always be more than average, but know this, I won’t be around forever and my opinion is skewed. You are both more than enough for me, but the world wants more and you both have more. Take the fact that you are average with you in every life obstacle that you should come across. Start out as average and really dig deep to find out if you seek more. I know you are both truly inspirational and astounding individuals, but my word is only as good as average.
Be determined to be better than average. Be a fighter. Want what you can’t have and then find a way to get it. Dream for things that are unimaginable and then find a way to catch those dreams. Expect more from yourself that anyone else, because you will always be your worst critic. Use those brains that God gave you, but always listen to your heart. Sometimes they will argue but the heart is usually right. Find a way to no longer be average. You are both, anything but.
Love, Mommy
