Dear Eden,
Today you are 13 years old. This is weird. I think over the last year you’ve made it pretty clear to us that you are no longer a kid anymore. You keep reminding us, pushing for more freedom, having very strong opinions of your own, dying your hair in rainbow shades. Your brother is still a kid and you are not and that’s a strange transition for us to make. I always say that I trade you guys in for the next model every so often and you are definitely the next, teenaged model.

I’m pretty proud of the way you’re stretching your wings though. I like that you just want to explore the world around you. I was shocked the other day when you wanted to walk to Dairy Queen by yourself after school, but I think it’s really brave. You are really brave. I’m also proud of what a hard worker you are. I’ve been so impressed with the way you’ve learned the guitar basically all by yourself. I never had that kind of motivation and follow-through when I was 13. Josh says all the time how much smarter you are than he was at 13.

Probably my favorite thing about you is how thoughtful you are. I know you always notice if someone is sad and you are the first to defend your brother when he’s getting in trouble. I think it’s pretty amazing that you think about your parent’s happiness and how you effect that. I love that you care so much about social injustice.

You’re pretty cool, Eden. And I’m glad that you’re mine.

Love, Mom