“I’m Younger Than That Now…”2
Dear Little Nan,
This is me, this is us—I’m all grown up and you are still little. I’m writing to you as our birthday hovers. There are a few things I want to tell you. First, you are about the cutest thing I have ever seen on the planet. I love your pants and your cool jacket—I wish I had them in grown up sizes right here and now.
Secondly—for your birthday present, here are my words of wisdom, prayer, and hope—from my grown up heart, going backwards in time, to fill up your child-heart:
Dear Heart—it will be hard. It will be really hard for a long, long time. And I want you to know—you will outlive the loneliness. You will outlive the fear. You are so brave and so strong. Your heart will carry you through to the other side of so much struggle. And what you will receive? You will get everything—a sense of who you are as a good and brave woman, a family in which to live that is yours by choice, work that matters in which you shine and bless others, and a community of like-minded and like-hearted people. Most importantly, you will get a comfort and an ease in yourself beyond anything you can imagine. And there will be so much love and so much connection around you. This is the truth of your life.
My hope and my prayers for you are that, somewhere deep inside, you will know that I will be right there, guiding you forward. I will be one breath away, always available to love you and bless you. You are able. You are equipped. You will become beyond-magnificently—exactly who you are. Just do your best. And know that you are not alone.
Love, Grown-Up Aruni
Dear Readers, Dear Friends,
What words of wisdom, prayer or hope would you offer from your adult self, to the heart, to the essence of the child that you were, to the child that you are?
1,2 Dylan, Bob. I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now. “My Back Pages”. Another Side of Bob Dylan. Columbia Records. 1964