Daughter, you are lucky just like me

I know I'm lucky.

I loved my childhood. Every.Single.Minute. I grew up with parents who loved and nurtured me. I had space, both physical and emotional to grow. I was given responsibilities and boundaries and respect. I had an example of a marriage between my parents that showed me the kind of partner to seek, the kind of relationship to expect and the kind of nest to build in my own adult life.

I grew up on a farm in small-town Oregon. Acres and acres of space surrounded me, along with a whole lot of family. Cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents watched me run and jump and ride my bike without training wheels for the first time and stumble, fall and get back up. I grew up encouraged to do whatever I wanted and honestly believing I could achieve great things. I grew up proud of myself. I knew of no glass ceilings, just open skies.

To my daughter, it's in these respects that our childhoods will be the same, I hope. You have space. You play on those same acres and acres of land as I did when I was your age. We gather with friends and family and I watch them watch you so carefully. You have aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents who hold your hand as you try new things, and give you enough space to stumble. You're not even two, and I can see how proud you are and I love that. Some days you're barefoot and dirt covers your face and hands, and is stuck in between your toes and all I can do is smile and remember the days where I donned the same degree of mess.

Daughter, you too will know no glass ceilings. Those open skies surround and embrace you. You will grow up in a world where a woman can be president. When you grow up, you'll tell me one day, you will want to be a doctor or an astronaut or The President of The United States. And I know you'll believe that you can be any of those things, because you are confident and proud. And because that's the world you're growing up in.

I have never known a world where women don't have the right to vote, or buy land, or work outside the home, or stand up on their own two feet and celebrate their independence. I appreciate those things, of course, but I have never lived without them. I've only heard of the sacrifices it took to get there. I was born into an era where my right to vote, my choice to work and so much more were already fought for me. I know I don't make as much money as a man would in my same job. I know there's still work to do.

But I'm excited for both of us, because now you will never know a world where a woman can't run our country. Regardless of politics, it's pretty darn amazing to be a girl in our brave, new world.

You're lucky too.