My Dearest Sofia,
One more year until you're a teenager! Please stop growing up so fast, I'm not ready for you to be so grown up.
You've got this spunky attitude and as much as it drives everyone crazy, I love it. You remind me so much of myself at your age. You've referred to yourself as hardcore quite a bit lately. Not really referencing any one thing you're hardcore about, but just hardcore in general. My little girl who love hot pink and orange now loves dark purple. I'm dreading the day you ask to paint your room such a depressing color, mainly because Mom won't like it and I'll have to convince her to let you.
Lexie got you a journal for Christmas and I'm pretty sure you've been writing in it every day. I would never look for it or read it, but there have been a few times I see you shoving it under your pillow when I come in your room at night. It will be years before you see this, but I really hope you hold onto that journal so you can look back at it and think of the things you felt were important enough to write about.
You started middle school last fall, sixth grade. Only a few more years and you'll be getting this box of letters for your birthday, and not long after that you'll be starting college (hopefully). Being in middle school means soccer is the spring instead of the fall. You actually have a soccer game tonight, so instead of your usual birthday dinner, we're all going to the game and picking up pizza on the way home.
Each year it gets harder to not just reminisce about the past year and actually include something that I want you to know. You're getting to the age where you're going to start to be interested in boys, or girls, or both. Please don't keep secrets about your relationships from your parents. My parents weren't always that accepting of my relationships (yes, even when I dated men) and I promised myself that I would always accept who my kids loved.
Love,
Madre