I’ll be here to tell you all the ways I have fought for the health of our home, and fought to protect all of the wide, open spaces for you to run in. When you’re old enough, we can fight together.

Sent on

November 7, 2016

Eliza Merritt

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Hey kiddo,

As far as away as you are, I sure am excited for you. As much as I am absolutely not ready for you yet, I’m looking forward to when I am. I’m definitely scared, too. Scared to let you go even before I have you. But excited to hug you after you leave home for the first time, excited to take you on walks to parks and to watch you make mistakes. You have a lot of expectations to live up to, you know. But I’m guessing that you’ll surpass them on your own, even without you trying.

But, there’s a load of shit you’re bound to inherit. Maybe my proneness to boredom or wanderlust, but surely the problem of what to do about the crisis we’ve created for ourselves. We haven’t done a good job taking care of this earth, as much as I or anyone else may love it. I think you’ll love it too, and I hope you care as much as I do about respecting it. I hope it isn’t too far gone by the time you get here.

I haven’t done enough about climate change. I need to be better about taking the actions I want to, and not making excuses from myself. You’ll understand when you’re here – I procrastinate a lot.

Anyway, I’ll be here to tell you all the ways I have fought for the health of our home, and fought to protect all of the wide, open spaces for you to run in. When you’re old enough, we can fight together.

All my love,
Mom

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