Dear Little One,

Technically, I met mama in the Division One Café at the Boston Police Department headquarters while mama was undercover. I'll let mama tell you that story someday – she enjoys telling it. That's not the memory I think about, though, when I think about our first meeting. No, I think about the first time I met mama as Detective Jane Rizzoli. It was exactly 97 days after we met in the café – truthfully, both dates are forever locked in my memory.

I don't believe in love at first sight – or more accurately, I didn't think I believed in love at first sight. In fact, I once told mama that initial attraction was pure narcissism when she asked me if I believed in love at first sight. I also told her that people are attracted to people who are attracted to them. The truth is, I think I was trying to convince myself more than her because I was already head-over-heels in love with her. I just didn't realize that she could ever feel the same way about me.

I'm fairly certain, I fell in love with mama at first sight – both times – but my favorite is when I met her as herself. She came down to my office. She had just been promoted to homicide. Now that her undercover assignment was over, she wanted to apologize and introduce herself. She said she felt terrible about how rude she'd been to me that day in the café. Had I known her better at the time, I would have realized right then that something was different between us. As you will one day figure out if you haven't already, mama doesn't usually care what people think of her. She goes through life with a confidence I will always admire. She is always unapologetically herself, and I love that about her. She never apologizes for how she does her job, nor should she – but something made her apologize to me that day.

After she apologized, she invited me to lunch. No one had ever invited me to lunch just because they wanted to get to know me. I was convinced that she wanted something from me; I just wasn't sure what it was that she wanted. It took me several weeks – a few lunches, a couple invitations to join the team for drinks after a case, and many morning coffees – before I realized that all she wanted was me, exactly as I was, exactly as I am.

I hope you never experience the loneliness that I did before I met mama, but whether or not you do, I hope that one day you meet your Jane, your best friend. Obviously, that person probably won't be named Jane, so I don't mean that literally. What I really mean is, I hope you find that person who accepts you and loves you unconditionally; the person that you can always go to, regardless of what you need; the person you trust with your life and with your heart.

I hope that one day, you meet the love of your life, and I hope that you recognize that love when you do find it. In the meantime, mama and I will love you with everything that we have, everything that we are. And when you do meet that person, we will continue loving you with everything that we are, but we will also find space in our hearts to love that person, as well.

You should know that even though it's a different kind of love, I also fell in love with you at first sight – or more accurately, at first thought.

I love you, little one.

Love,

Mommy