Dear Will,
As I write this letter I am filled with so much emotion. Fear, sadness, confusion, but most of all love and pride. You are the one who gave me the title of Mother. You are the one to say the word “Mama” first. You were the first to cause me real fear when you got sick. You were the first to show me that love without even knowing someone is real. I loved you the very first moment I found out I was going to have you!!!! I had no picture, all I had was a double line. And I fell in love. So this letter is full of love.
But with love that grand comes a magnitude of sadness when you are worried and fearful for the one you love so much. I am so sad because this was suppose to be your year! Your last year to play soccer. Your year to go on a senior spring break trip without me or dad. Your Senior Prom. Your year as president of the Art Club and whatever else the rest of your senior year had to offer you. The last year to be with your closest buds before you all went your separate ways out into the world. This was what you had worked so hard for these past 13 years and it was all taken from you and the rest of the Seniors across the world due to a global pandemic.
As I sit here writing this I realize that a lot of your classmates were born around September 11, 2001. 911….Funny, you all came into this world at such a painful time in history and we are going to send you all out into the world at such a painful time in history. I tend to think there is a divine plan around this. God does not make mistakes. There is no mistake in this. As a matter of fact I think there will be true leaders made from this. And I think you will be one of those leaders!
But, that still does not take away the pain, confusion, or sheer madness you and your friends might be feeling. And to that I say, feel it! Let yourselves feel it. It is real. The pain is real. You have been robbed of a precious time in your life. An important time. One filled with so much anxiety, excitement,and joy and now all it is sadness and loss. It is o.k. to grieve this loss. With grief comes all kinds of emotions. Be there for one another. Listen to one another. Sit in silence with one another. Cry with one another. Of course as I write this I realize you will have to do this via face time, zoom, snap chat, or whatever technological way you all do these things now. And that in and of itself is so sad!!!!! But all the more reason to show you how resilience you all are! You are so tech savvy and so creative and innovative you all will make a beautiful thing out of this terrible situation! I just know it!!!!
It hurts my heart it has to be this way. When we were on our walk and you were talking about how you would never step foot into your high school again and how it hurt you to know you may never see Mr. Fullwood….well let’s just say I had to choke back the tears.
I remember being a senior. One of the most exciting times of my life. I remember all the emotions. All the gatherings and parties. I remember all the planning for college. AND I remember crying in my theater teachers arms, Mr. Cody, about how sad I was it was over. But the difference between my senior year and yours is my senior played out how it was suppose to….Yours was taken from you like a thief in the night. I remember being scared about what it would look like going forward, sad that I might not ever see some of the people I had seen daily for years, and sad about all the familiar comfortable things my childhood brought me. He played a song for me, one that I will never forget. Some Good Things Never Last, by Barbara Streisand. The words in the end go like this:
We’ll live for the future
We’ll learn from the past
No matter how hard we try
Some good things never last
Why can’t they last?
I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know what tomorrow holds. What I do know is you are creative. You are smart. You will all find a way to band together with your friends and make the best out of this awful circumstance. And through this terrible circumstance you and your friends will be all the stronger for it which in turn will bless this world and our future.
I am so sad for you Will and all your friends and classmates. But as I close this letter know that I close it in hope! Hope because you and your classmates are our countries future! I am excited to see how you all will make the most of this situation and that in and of itself will provide hope for our country and our future! You all are leaders and this is STILL YOUR YEAR!!!!
All My Love,
Mom
