You have so many opportunities ahead of you and I hope that you never feel that you are limited doing anything just because you’re a girl. I will be more than glad to remind you that you’re not.

You can do anything you want so long as you put your mind to it.

I realize that years down the line, she and Eli both will find these posts and their attached comments and know, without question or doubt, that they were born not just to parents, but to extended families and communities of friends who embraced them with love and excitement from the moment we knew they were coming.

They (Liza and Eli) will get to see us not just as the people *they* remember from their childhood — the memories we haven’t made for them yet — but from our point of view, in our own words, along the entire way.

When I really think about it, and realize that one of these years, these beings so young and fragile are going to come back to our words with minds of their own …. there’s no sniffle filter that can protect me.

It’s one of the many reasons Jeff and I point to you, and to Misty, as the kind of people who *should* be parents. You love both your children fiercely, but expect them to remain as individual as you and Misty have.

As messages in a bottle go, these are extraordinary.

Oh, and I’m glad my nickname idea stuck for the time being.

(P.S. — hey, Eli and Liza — I have great stories about your parents, and your aunt Joy and uncle Andrew. We weren’t always old. Find me. We’ll see if you can meet my bribe price.)

That is so sweet.