A Letter To My Girls on Their Childhood
To my little girls of the prairie,
When you are grown, I hope you remember how rich your childhood was unplugged. I hope you remember long summer days playing in pastures, riding your cowponies, picking paintbrush, and letting your imagination determine afternoon plans.
I hope you remember exploring in the creek, hunting for arrowheads, witnessing new life come into this world as you watched a new calf being born, and fishing at the pond.
I hope when you’re grown, you never forget to look up at night to see the bright stars, the magic of an Oklahoma sunset, or the memories that resurface of riding with your Dad in the tractor when you smell fresh cut hay.
I hope you drive with your windows down and play our favorite songs that were on repeat when you were little. I hope you read the same books we’d get lost in and relive the stories with your own kids.
I hope when you’re grown, you’ll realize that sometimes what we did wasn’t popular, but your childhood wasn’t cut short, wasn’t desensitized, and we hid you away from the things we could control so you could experience what life was intended to be like for a kid.
I hope you look back and are proud of our brand, what it stands for, your family it represents, and the way we try to live different. I hope you loved your childhood so much, you try to mimic it within your own fences for our grandkids one day.
And when you’re grown, I hope you know how much your dad and I loved you. That we did the best we could and fought for you. For your freedom, for your morality, your faith, and your education. We prayed hard, we loved hard, we messed up too, but we tried to give you a childhood that’s becoming unheard of. The things we don’t allow that might seem silly to you now, I hope are your saving grace later in life.
I hope you’re always proud of being raised on the prairie, living different, and that when the world seemed like it was in shambles, our little corner still felt special and wonderful to you.
-Mom