Today is the day BB & GG leave their childhood behind and officially become teens! They turn 13 today….

Dear GG and BB,

Happy Birthday to you! You turn 13 today and can now call yourselves official teenagers. These teen years will be amazing years for both of you as you both learn to stretch your wings, form your lifelong beliefs, build abilities and passions and find what you want to do for the rest of your lives.

You both are growing up to become fine young people, who have a good value system which should allow you to take the vagueries of being an adult in your stride. This is an age where temptations abound all around you and I do hope that values and sense we have instilled in both of you will help you fight against those temptations you will see around you.

GG, you are my first born and when I was pregnant with the two of you, I desperately wanted at least one of you to be a girl. You are that girl. You show so much promise and over the last one year, you have literally grown up, becoming more mature and focused. You know what you want to do in school and are very clear about your goals. You may not have the perfect career idea as yet, but each day you are refining your ideas and when you do figure out exactly what you want to do in life, you are well poised to achieve those goals. You also have started blossoming in terms of leadership skills and these will stand you in good stead in life. Keep doing what you are doing with the same passion and you will always be a winner!

BB, when you were born, I was very happy. I had always longed for a brother, and when I saw you with your sister, I knew GG will never feel the same yearning. You’ve been an amazing brother and hope you and your sister be as close as you are now forever. You are such a smart boy that sometimes the things you say, scare me! You found your passion in life when you were 3 years old and over the years, this  has never wavered. This is extremely rare in people who take years in finding out what they want to do in life, with some adults not knowing it till the day they die. I hope you keep this passion alive and kicking and do all that you can to make sure you are able to achieve what you set out to be at age three! Do not less the fun of today make you lose track of what you want to achieve in life and lose sight of the end goal.

GG & BB, my wishes for you both are that you both lead happy, contented and fulfilled lives. There are not many years left when you will leave these teen years behind and become full-fledged adults and have all the responsibilities that come with it. Use these years wisely, read as much as you can, grow your mind, work hard in school to achieve the goals you set out for yourselves, enjoy life with family and friends and most importantly have loads of fun while doing all this.

I see you both and see myself and your daddy in both of you, but you are version 2.0 of us, better models, the versions I hope I would have been – more confident, focused and less OCD!

So Happy 13th Birthday GG & BB! I am so proud of you….Welcome to the best years of your life – your teens!

Love,

Mum