13 Promises

prom·ise │'präməs │
noun
-a declaration of assurance that one will do a particular thing or that guarantees that a particular thing will happen.

I normally don't like making promises but I find myself being coaxed into making them AND held to keeping them by my daughters.

'Pinky Promise' (photo by vjubis)

They love to make promises.  They love when I 'agree' to make promises to them.  They take my promises to heart.  I know this because I was that SAME kid that believed the promises made to me by my mother.

In a way, I dislike promises only because they hold a deeply seared unsettling emotion for me.
But my children are NOT me and I am NOT my mother so for now, these are the promises that I CAN make to them.  13 promises to my daughters.

Dear daughters of mine,

• I promise to be authentic with my emotions.
• I promise that I will make a gazillion mistakes.
• I promise to listen intently to your struggles.
• I promise to be raw and display my struggles to you because I am NOT perfect.
• I promise to do my best.
• I promise to turn to your sweet smiles when I'm feeling down.
• I promise to allow you to be who you are.
• I promise to love you to your deepest core.
• I promise to be compassionate toward myself.
• I promise to forgive you.
• I promise that you'll get mad at me at times.
• I promise to allow you to make mistakes.
• I promise to always be your friend.