To what world do we venture out to?

Dear Sienna Elyse,

        So, I’ve been doing some research lately. I wanted to know the states and countries with the best scholastic systems. Of course, we’re talking K-12 at this point. When you go to college, we’ll figure out where we’re moving to then!

        As of this year, these are the States with the best grades and scholastic ratings:

1.            Maryland

2.            Massachusetts

3.            New York

4.            Virginia

5.            New Jersey

6.            Ohio

7.            Pennsylvania

8.            Georgia

9.            West Virginia

10.        Arkansas

Now, I’m not sure I want to live up North simply because it gets quite cold, but perhaps it’s not miserable, I don’t know. So the first one, I, quite frankly, really don’t know that much about. I’ve never read a book that took place in Maryland and I don’t hear much about it. Same for Massachusetts. Now, New York could be an option, but it’s complicated. See, I would not raise a child in New York City, and I don’t know about rural New York. The city may have culture and interesting things that can broaden your horizons, but it’s simply not a place to raise a child. And the rest doesn’t seem like it would have enough insight into the rest of the world – but what city really does?  Hmmm. I suppose with access to New York City, you could live a fairly crime-free life with frequent visits for the better “insights” part. But seriously, do we really want to be driving into and out of New York? I think not.

After New York, it’s not really worth moving there to get a less than 3^rd place school system. I mean, you can get the B- grades in the State I’m in now that the other States on the list hold. So no point continuing on down that list.

Which means we go international. The top ten countries as of 2010 are:

1.      South Korea

2.      Finland

3.      Canada

4.      New Zealand

5.      Japan

6.      Australia

7.      Netherlands

8.      Belgium

9.      Norway

10.  Estonia

Now, the countries I’ve been considering are US, France and the UK. Those are 17^th, 21^st and 11^th, respectively – none of them are on this list of top 10! We’re certainly not moving to South Korea. Finland may not be the worst idea - apparently, aside from top scholastics, they were ranked as one of the world’s most peaceful, competitive and livable countries. Problem is, I don’t speak Finnish. Also, it’s a very cold country. Not that I’m against it, but I don’t know about -20°F in winter. That might be a bit much. Also, they may have a lot of their own culture, but how much access do they have to other cultures? It also seems that they have a very old population with people not having children much. So there could be economic and other issues eventually. Perhaps Canada, but I feel that they are quite cut off from the rest of the world.

So then I looked at best countries to live in--not factoring in schools—and guess which one was at the top? It was France! Apparently, it ranks as the top for many things quite regularly (like culture, healthcare, infrastructure, etc.). Of course, I found another “top ten” and it had Vancouver, Canada at the top. Another list of “Happiest Countries” had Denmark at the top. Interestingly, all of these lists have had Luxembourg on them somewhere between 2 and 10. Apparently, it is the world’s richest country and also consumes the most alcohol in the world per citizen…then again, they have a small population, so maybe that number is a bit skewed.

Then I looked at unemployment rates for US, France and UK – 7.2, 7.5 and 5.5, respectively. As a point of interest, Luxembourg is at 4.7! New Zealand (#4 on the scholastic chart) is 4.0. While that is not bad, I certainly feel that New Zealand is quite cut off from the rest of the world and if we didn’t have a lot of money for travel, we would not get a good sense of the "bigger picture."

I was talking to one of your aunts about all this and I did mention that the UK has a better school system than France and US. And we thought that, actually, if we lived in France, the K-12 system would give you a good enough education, perhaps supplemented at home, and then we’d be close enough for you to go to Cambridge or Oxford when you go to college. So you’ll be able to get away from your mother in your college years, but you’d still be only a train ride away! Ha. Naturally, I adore London, so I can’t promise that I won’t come live there with you when you start going to college. But I guess we can discuss that when it comes up.

Well, I certainly want to do more research and math on these things. You know, if a country is at the 2 spot in schools, 4 in best place to live and 3 in healthcare, then what does it average out to vs other countries and their ratings?  We shall see!

Love you,

Your mom

You are my sunshine

Dear Sienna Elyse,

        Yesterday, someone told me that I had no business adopting. They told me that I was just a single, lonely girl who had no direction in her life and bringing a child into it would just be a way to make myself feel better – basically, that I’m adopting you for selfish purposes. I thought about it a lot, because the person who said it is really the last person who should have. I considered what my motives are for being your mommy. I started with the question, “Why do I want a child or children?” and, of course that brought me to the question, “Why does anyone want children?”

        If you think about it, my reasons for wanting children are no more selfish than the average couple who get married and decide to have children. How is their desire for children in an overpopulated, resource-drained, utterly depraved society, any less selfish than my own? If one were to remove their own wishes and emotions from the equation, they would realize that procreating is killing the planet, our future generations are likely to be faced with more issues than they will have the resources to handle, simply because we keep having more children and, therefore, having children—in any number—is simply the wrong thing to do. But, of course, we all want a family. Our evolutionary biology tells us that we should not be alone. So whether it is a married couple having their first child, or a single woman adopting her own child, the same level of selfishness, or, you could argue, evolution is present to make them desire that child, regardless of the consequences.

        I know it sounds like I’m saying that you’re born into a miserable world where selfishness is inherent, resources are limited and the world is headed for its demise, and technically, well, that is true. But, you, my dear, you were born to do greater things than simply populate this planet. You were born to be a part of the answer to all those problems. I don’t expect you to go out and save our planet, but I do know that you are going to be raised to see the whole picture – not just the little lines in front of you. You are going to be raised to understand that life cannot be simply lived, you have to work at it. You are going to be raised to know that we do not know all there is to know, that we are only as far from an answer as we can imagine - we don’t even have the imagination to know what there is to discover. We hypothesize and make guesses based on what we know, but we don’t know all there is to know to base our guesses on. So how can we even make those guesses? My generation and the one before me have discovered a lot and your generation and the one after you will discover even more! But only if at leat some of you are raised to know that you always need to push yourself, always need to go beyond what is accepted as “fact”. I may not be able to raise every child in your generation, but I will be the mother of a forward thinker.

        I didn’t get the chance to push my knowledge to its limits. My parents decided that they knew what was right and didn't pushed us beyond the lowest requirements by law. Now, you can’t blame your upbringing for how you turn out, but that can be a factor. I couldn’t go to college, so I started working and I was simply never able to stop working long enough to do anything else. But if I had had the chance, I would have loved to study, to go beyond my limited knowledge and learn so much more about the world. And that’s what I want to give you. I may not be able to raise you in luxury, but you will have the opportunity to go to school, to learn what is out there and more importantly, to learn that you must always keep learning and looking to learn. And even if you don’t end up being a great scientist, or philosopher, or the queen or president of a country, I know that you will carry with you what I will teach you and bring it to the next generation.

        I won’t demand that you go out and become a Pulitzer prize winner, I’m asking that you look beyond your bedroom, beyond your home, beyond your yard, your city, your county, your country. Not all amazing people are simply born, there’s always someone there who taught them how to be amazing. So even if you’re a teacher and are able to pass something important on to the next generation, then you will certainly be amazing.

        Of course, I know that the saving of our world lies in the hands of our children. And if everyone would raise each child like they were going to be the next most important person in history, we might find many of the answers that we’re looking for. I intend to raise you as if you were going to rule the entire world and whether or not you do rule the world, I expect you to raise your children that way too.

        So yes, my desire to have you is selfish—I want to be the mommy of the world’s most important person in history! And that’s you Sienna.

        I love you.

Your mom

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

Dear Sienna Elyse,

        I’m not against marriage. Not at all. But I think I’m against weddings. I think girls everywhere dream of a wonderful wedding, with the perfect dress and nice decorations and great food and all the friends and family there. They just imagine how they’re going to have so many bridesmaids, what color scheme to go with, how many tiers they’ll have on the cake, the engagement ring, even the song they are going to dance to. Amazingly, if you talk to them about their hopes and dreams, rarely do they go into great detail about the man at the altar. Some will put in a nice word for him, some will even go so far as to hope he can afford to pay for all the wonderful things they’ve been dreaming up since they were little. But few, if any, look forward to their marriage as much as they look forward to their wedding.

        Honey, what I want you dreaming of when you’re little is not some fabulous wedding, but a fabulous future. One where you are a strong woman who can take care of yourself and may one day find a wonderful man who will be your best friend and love you no matter what color the flowers are at your wedding. The wedding means absolutely nothing. It is a series of old rituals, customs and ceremonies. Father walking the bride down the aisle? It’s a custom that comes from parents selling their daughters and dragging them before the priest against their will. Bridesmaids? Possibly decoys to keep the bride, with the big dowry, from being stolen by an enterprising jerk…or just a really good way for women to humiliate their friends. Quite frankly, there is little romance in what we do at weddings these days. Many of the “romantic” things are based on barbaric and old, pointless customs.

        I’m not saying that when you get married I won’t be ecstatic and go mad helping you plan a perfect wedding. I understand that customs and rituals have as much power as one believes them to have and these days, people have a lot of hope and faith in these rituals. So I will be right there at every step, helping you decide on the perfect dress or ring, or whatever. But I hope that you will remember that a wedding is only as good as the two people making the vows. The moment the little spot on your dress, or the bridesmaid who invited someone you don’t know, or the dinner order being slightly wrong makes you so furious, you want to scream and tear someone apart, then you know you’re focusing on the wrong thing. Who cares how many flowers there are? Who cares what the color scheme is?! If the man you’re going to be with for the rest of your life is perfect, then you don’t need the perfect wedding.

        If women put half the time and energy into finding the RIGHT guy for them as they do into the “perfect” wedding, then there might be a lot less divorce. The truth is, sweetie, I’m the biggest romantic out there. I believe in a real love, not the love that you choose because it’s easier, not the feeling that is similar to eating chocolate, not that little thing in the pit of your stomach that makes you want to sing a song. Yes, all those things can be there, but it’s so much more than that. It’s knowing that there are going to be some really bad times, but you still want to do it. Knowing that there are times you won’t feel all ooey and gooey and you’ll still love the heck out of him because you love HIM not the idea of him, not what the books or movies or even I tell you that you should love about him.

I can’t tell you how to love, who to love and what to do once you do find it. But I can tell you that if you start thinking more about your wedding than you do about the kind of woman you will grow up to be, or the kind of man you will marry, then the best day of your life will be your wedding day and all the others will dull in comparison – as will your love. Look forward to love, not your wedding, look forward to a good husband, not a wedding dress, look forward to a family with a man who will be a good father, not what horrid dress to put your bridesmaids in…I could go on, but I suppose it gets old.

Personally, I don’t think I will ever have a wedding. If I find a man who I really want to spend the rest of my life with, I don’t think I’ll put a bunch of stress on it by starting out our lifetime with a horrid wedding. Ha. Not that I expect you to do that. I expect you’ll find a good man and big or small wedding, you’ll love him and he’ll love you no matter what.

I love you dearly,

Your mom

If we only knew the things we don't know.

Dear Sienna Elyse,

        I read this article this morning about how there are some Japanese people who go to Paris thinking that it will be one thing and when their trip doesn’t go as expected, they have what is dubbed “Paris Syndrome.” This is basically freaking out because Paris does not meet the standards they expected it to, the language barrier is big and complex, the cultures vary so widely, and the time difference between the countries causes an almost insurmountable jet lag effect. This can happen to anyone for anything (besides Paris). It's a result being short-sighted, believing everything you’re told (or at least what the movies say) and not really having an idea of the world outside of your own. It’s a scary thing and something I see a lot of around me (although it doesn’t generally result in a psychological meltdown, thankfully). The ones I’m more familiar with are people who may not have a heart attack at the sight of different cultures, but even worse, refuse to accept them because they don’t know or understand them! Fear will always bring anger and hatred, and not understanding and knowing the world around you will bring fear. So, essentially, not being able to look beyond yourself and being so self-centered that you can’t think outside of your own little box, is how fear and hatred come about.

        I didn’t have the greatest upbringing, but one thing we did have was a broad view of many things. While we were told to accept our own religion as the only correct one, we were also given to understand many things about other people and other cultures. Regardless of how it came about, we learned to understand, if not accept, other people of other cultures, including things that we wouldn't normally expect, or attitudes and actions that we’d never come across before. I think the only thing that I never learned, was to accept stupidity borne of an inability to see beyond one’s self. If you are always thinking about yourself and the things that make you comfortable or that you like and don’t look outwards beyond yourself, aside from being a self-centered jerk, you will just be stupid. There is not a single great person who didn’t look beyond themselves to get to where they got. Even if some of them did it for personal reasons, they still had to look beyond their little sandbox in order to get further. It doesn’t make you a good person, but it does make you smarter.

Just imagine thinking that there is no world beyond your bedroom and, thus, stay there becoming queen of all your toys and rule your bedroom as the most powerful thing in your whole bedroom! Suddenly, one day you get the idea to open the door and you find a whole house outside of what you thought was your world! So you go out there, then go further and leave the house, then go even further and leave the street, the city, the country. Well, once you’re sitting in Africa, after seeing the wonders that the Sahara has to offer, won’t you think that you were pretty stupid to think that being queen of your own bedroom was “great?” I know that sounds silly, but that’s the way things are in the real world. The minute you think you’ve gotten the furthest you can get, the highest you can go, the most powerful you’ll ever be, is the moment you allow yourself to be a complete fool. Because what do we really know? For all we know, this world is just one bedroom in a house, in a country on a planet in a universe...

Unfortunately, I think I often feel I know people well enough to be able to put them into their own categories, and I’m quick to do so. “He says this, so that means he’s a [fill in the blank]."  Of course, that’s very judgmental and probably the wrong way to look at people and deal with them. Because someone tells one lie, does not mean that they are always a liar – then again, you can’t really say of someone who has told a single lie that they never lie, so doesn’t that put them in the “liar” category? Haha. I'm not making my own point with that! I suppose, you have to think beyond every little fault and characteristic (especially those you dislike) and try to find a way to accept people for who they are. For example, some Southern people chew tabbaccy and spit nasty, disgusting stuff in public places and it’s so totally gross. BUT, perhaps that’s a part of their culture and the way they were raised, so how can you say that it’s wrong to do it? Even if you don’t do it yourself and you don’t like it.

It all comes back to understanding things you may not be completely familiar with. Always remember that the ill advantage is with the man who thinks his way is the only way, or the best way. Until you’ve tried every single way from the point of every single person, you can’t possibly know what is the best. And since we are not Gods, we will never know everything about anything. There’s always the thing we don’t know about a thing that we didn’t know we didn’t know. Right?   

        Love you,

Mom

Chateau de la Fontenelle

Dear Sienna Elyse,

        I have this little thing I do as a treat for myself (though maybe it really isn’t that much of a treat because it ends up making me crazy jealous of really wealthy people); About once a month, I go online to this website that lists mostly mansions for sale in other countries and I shop around for a castle in France. Always a castle, always France. They’ve listed a new one (I’ve already looked at the others extensively), and like others that I’ve fallen in love with, I’ve completely fallen in love with this new one. It’s called “Chateau de la Fontenelle.”  Yeah, it’s that kind of castle - it has its own name and such a pretty name at that! It’s really beautiful and as I look at the pictures, I can totally imagine myself living there. Ha. It has a tower (I absolutely adore towers!!) and these massive tiled halls, a stone balustrade and fireplaces in almost all the rooms, even the kitchen has one (quite handy, I think!). It has a pond, a couple meadows, a cottage or two, a chapel and one of the bathrooms has its own balcony. It would fit our whole family in there and then some. It’s listed at a “negotiable” $1.4 million. A down payment on that is a mere $280,000. I can’t quite conceive of the mortgage payments even with a 20% down payment. Hmm…I’ll have to figure that out some day so that I know just what it would take to live there. Of course, you’d have to factor in the cost of living there as well, I guess. For example, one would have to hire a maid service at least once a week, and given that I can’t cook, it may be a good idea to hire a cook as well. Mowing the lawns and keeping the yard neat would likely be another good area to hire someone who knows what they’re doing.

        Naturally, while I’m imagining myself there, I’m imagining you there too and I get worried about safety. But this one looks pretty safe – I’ve seen some castles on the edge of a cliff and those worry me quite a bit.

        Well, this is all just daydreaming. But wouldn’t it be lovely if I wrote a book deserving enough of a castle? Ha. Yes, that’s a daydream that I hold very dear, even though books don’t make as much of a living as they once did. But who knows what can happen? That’s why I’d like to know what it would cost to pay for something like that. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Though, I suspect this picture may have been photoshopped. Can a place as beautiful as this really exist? And then on top of that, rainbows decide to arch lovingly around it? It just seems a bit much, even for my imagination. Ha.

        But, my dear, you can always imagine! You can always dream big. I know it’s not likely that I will live in this castle, but at least, if I ever had the money to do something, I know what it would be! So many people can’t look outside of their own lives or world, or perhaps they’re afraid to. It’s the biggest tragedy, I think. Can you imagine growing up and never thinking that your life could be anything great? Regardless of where I find myself, I am always going to strive for more than what I am, more than what I have, more than what I’ve already done.

          So my darling, as I dream of a future with you, sometimes I do think I might be crazy to dream so big when I haven’t got a lot to build those dreams on. But I know that I am going to be showing you my France one day. Taking you around a castle and running through a yard…it may be someone else’s castle and yard and we might have to pay to do so, but we’ll do it! Oh! I almost forgot, I’ve never tasted chocolate like the chocolate in France (or maybe Europe, I’m not sure). It’s different, somehow, and I intend to show you the difference. Perhaps we’ll end up living there one day.

        Today a famous doctor died. His name was Jack Kavorkian. I’d talk more about him here, but I just don’t think there is enough space to go into that subject! So I’ll leave it at that so you can look back and say “My mommy wrote me a letter the day Kavorkian died.”  It’s a bit of history. You're welcome.

        I love you,

Your mom

This is our dog, she doesn't like to swim or retrieve.

Dear Sienna Elyse,

        Today I thought I would put up a picture of our dog Maddy.

        She’s only six right now. I don’t know how old she’ll be when you meet her. She is the only one that keeps me company right now. She also protects me with all her barking and fierceness. But she’s only so fierce because she’s a bit loopy. And I mean that in the best way possible. She’s really afraid of everything, which is why she barks so much. But then, that’s what makes the best guard-dogs. Before she came to live with me (I adopted her from a foster pet program), she was beaten by a man – or so her vet told me; which is why her vet thinks she’s afraid of men. That certainly would explain why men terrify her. Of course, she’s allergic to grass…and trees and bushes and, I think, most plants. Sometimes she pees when she gets really scared or super excited, which is gross. She’s a golden retriever mix, but she hates water and fetching – two things golden retrievers should love. So that’s weird. But don’t tell her, she’ll just get offended. But, even with all her fears and allergies and issues, she still obeys me pretty well.

        She’s a pretty good dog all around, but she does have her quirks. She sheds a lot…and I mean a whole heck of a lot. Lately, she’s been getting out of the back yard and last night I found out that she knows how to climb the fence! Can you believe that? I was so frustrated because I thought she was digging under it. But no, I saw that she escaped and I called her and told her to go home and sure enough, she just climbs right up and over the fence! I could have screamed in irritation. I’ll have to think up a way to fix that!

        I’m reading about adoption again today. One adoption agency says that once I start the process, it would take about a year for your adoption to take place. I think I’ve decided to adopt from Russia. I’m not sure how that decision came about exactly, but I seem to have some attachment to adoption from there. So that could be where you’re from. Though, who knows? Your grandma was telling me last night that there are a lot of children in Rwanda who are orphaned and people are adopting from there. But I’m not sure I’m ready to tread in Angelina Jolie’s footsteps…I’m really not pretty or rich enough for that, not to mention, I have no Brad Pitt at my side. Ha.

Once I choose an agency, then they’ll do this whole thing where they check out my home and make sure I’m ready to take care of you. I’m worried that my heart problem will be an issue. I mean, I know I can take care of you just fine, but what if they think that I am not capable of doing so since my heart skips beats sometimes? The medication helps, so I should be fine; but will they see it that way? Could it be that I can’t have a baby and I can’t adopt one without being married?

        No, I will find a way. I will find a way to you. Regardless of the obstacles. Even if it means I have to get a pace-maker to fix this problem, that’s what I’ll do if it’s the only path to you.

        Wow, so much to think about, so many things to do to get to you. That’s how special you are! I’ve looked at all the obstacles in my path to you and other people might be daunted by them, but I don’t care about them because you are my baby and I will get to you, even if I have to go to the end of the world (though, really! Where exactly is the end of the world?? Because if you start from your current spot and go around the world, the end of it would be right beside your current spot…wouldn’t it? Hmm...).

        Oh, I thought of another place we could live – Argentina. That’s a little less reasonable, but only because I don’t speak any Spanish, I don’t have residency (it’s taken your grandparents nearly ten years to get theirs!), and I’m not sure what standard of schools they have. It’s not a totally insane idea, of course. It would be fun to live out there, with the grape vines and mountains. It would probably be more of a “simple” life, but we’d be around your grandparents at least. Well it’s a thought I’m mulling over along with all the others.

        I read a story in the news today about a family waiting on a $65,000 tax rebate. Apparently, they adopted five children with needs and there is a higher cap on the amount of taxes you can get back now, especially for adopting children with needs. They’re complaining about not getting the rebate yet because they’re trying to buy a house. I don’t know, if they’re adopting these children so they can help them, then good for them and I hope they do get that money from the Government (the only place I’ll accept handouts from). But it seems a bit fishy to me that they would adopt FIVE children, all with needs. I grew up in a big family and it was difficult for your grandparents to give us all attention and we weren’t needy…well not physically or mentally, anyway. I’ve heard of parents having a hard time with one needy child, I can’t imagine five. I question whether these people are going to be able to properly take care of all their children and whether they were hoping that adopting that many children would just bring in more money for themselves. Wanting to help needy children is not a bad thing, of course, but doing it for personal gain is wrong. I hope they’re doing the right thing, but who knows? It’s not good to see the worst in people, but unfortunately, most of the time people are far worse than we could ever imagine.

        I suppose we can always hope for the best, can’t we?

        I love you darling,

Your mom.

It's your Aunt Mena's Birthday today.

Dear Sienna Elyse,

        Today, I decided to start writing you letters. Hmm, it's not exactly a really special day. I'm not sure why I chose it to start writing you. Today is June 1, 2011 – oh wait, it is quite a special day, actually! It's your Aunt Mena’s 32^nd birthday. She hates birthdays. I'm sure she'll tell you that herself. But, of course, that’s silly. Every single day of your life makes you older, so dreading birthdays is like dreading tomorrow, or this afternoon, or the next minute, or even the next second. Age really is only in the head and only means whatever you want it to mean.

        Anyway, the point of this letter, and the ones to come, is to tell you how things are going and how I got to your adoption. It's going to be a long road from here to being your mommy. One day, you might ask me why your real parents gave you up and I'll tell you that it's because you were meant to be my baby girl all along; that I've hoped and prayed and thought about you so much and so long, I even started writing you before I knew you existed. And the truth is, that will just be the truth!

       The truth of the matter is that I'm going to have to work very, very hard to be your mommy. You see, currently, I’m single, not very rich, rent a house of less than 800 square feet (though I do own some property), driving a very sensible four-year-old car, I don’t date, and I have a fainting condition. My parents, your grandparents, are living in South America. They’ve been there for the last ten years. The rest of our family is spread out everywhere else. So let’s just say, I don’t have a lot of familial, financial, or fatherly support (the three big "Fs").  Maybe I'll get married before I meet you, maybe my family will move closer to each other, or maybe I'll win the lottery. But right now, this is where I'm at.

       Technically speaking, all these factors could make one quite certain that I’m flipping bonkers out of my mind to consider adopting you. But of course, what they don’t know and what you by now know, is that I’m extremely determined and I usually do whatever I set out to do. What's more, I don’t just do it, I do it well.  Ha.

        I’m saving up for you. If my budget is correct and I can continue to stick to it, I could be starting the adoption process in about a year; the problem is that things rarely go as planned, so I'm not entirely sure when I'll be able to start this whole process. In the meantime, while I'm waiting for you, I'm going to keep myself busy with these letters and working towards all the things that will make having you possible. Until that wonderful day that I will get to hold you in my arms and tell you in person how much I love you, I have plenty of things to keep me busy. I’ll need a better house to bring you home to. I definitely want a better car to drive you around in, this one is fine, but by the time you get here, it’ll need to be replaced. I’m figuring out the daycare/work from home thing, still. That hasn’t panned out yet. But we’re getting there. 

        OK, big concern of mine, I must confess – school! Yeah, I know you’re not even born yet and even when you are, you won’t be going to school for several years. But, you see, you’re the most important thing in my life and I know that if I don’t find the right place to live with the appropriate schools, then I’ll end up sending you to whatever schools are around and if I'm not in a place that has great schools, you'll end up somewhere not great. And that, my dear Sienna, simply will not do! So I’ve thought of a couple options.

Now – hear me out on this (or is it, read me out? Hmm) – Austin, Texas. Yes, I know, it's Texas, very hot, Texas, very big, Texas, gun-toting lot, Texas, Republicans, Texas, and well, Texas!! I’m not sure I can ever get my head around the whole Texas thing. But, Austin is actually a great city. Also, your uncle and his family live there. Which is nice, because that’s family we can be around. Also, your uncle is thinking about teaching at some point and if he's still in Austin when you're going to college or highschool--depending on where he ends up teaching--I'd love for you to go to school wherever he's teaching. (You know, he’ll tell you this, but I think you should hear it from me first – everyone should be a philosopher!)

        Right, so Austin is an option. Then there’s Europe. I say Europe and not a specific country because I’ve been torn, lately, between France and England. France, of course, has our family on your grandfather's side, and I do love France and all things French. I just think the language does not like me very much. And England, well, I love England. Their movies and humor are really great…not that that’s a good reason to move there. But they’ve got some of the best schools in the whole world!! Imagine – you going to Cambridge. I know you probably won’t think it’s as cool as I do, but then again, I never had the chance to go to school. Plus, I’ve read so many books having to do with Cambridge – I've dreamed about going to school there the way little girls dream of being princesses in castles. Naturally, in my dream I end up in a castle anyway because after such a great education, I’m clever enough to get a job that will afford me one. Ha.

        I guess that’s as many places as I’ve thought of to raise you so far. I’m sure I’ll come up with many other harebrained schemes before you get here. I'll be sure to keep you updated.

        I should really end this with some tidbit about what’s going on in the world today. Paris Hilton (you may or may not know who she is) was on Piers Morgan’s show (look it up) last night and saying, in reference to an indecent tape someone made of her "...now when people look at me, they think that I'm something I'm not just because of one incident..." and was upset about how people think she's not an upstanding character because of one thing that happened. Also, she was saying how, apparently, she’s worked for everything she has, including her $10MM brand...since I work in trademarks, I'd love to get her insights on that! Ha. Now, don’t take mommy the wrong way, but that girl is the dumbest thing since Mr. Camping first started telling people when the world was going to end. First of all, everything Ms. Hilton has is because she had the money to get it. She has not really worked a day in her life. It's insulting to people who know what real work is to hear her say that. Honestly, she should just be proud of not having to work and not try to lie to the world about how difficult things are for her. You know how much I dislike liars. And second, the indecent tape is not the ONE thing that gave people the bad opinion we have of her. Saying that this one thing is what made her seem less saintly in our eyes, is like saying a giraffe doesn't exist because you've never seen one before. It's simply absurd. She worked very hard at getting the bad reputation she has. She shouldn't blame one instance for all that work.
        Of course, there are much bigger issues in our world today than a rich girl spouting off nonsense, but we’ll have our own share of issues to deal with together, so I’ll leave the big stuff in the past for now.

        I love you,

Your mom.