Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my past and mistakes that I've made and mostly how I don't want you to repeat them. It's a horrible feeling to look back at who you were and to be ashamed. To wish that you had made better decisions and to see how those poor choices have affected your life. I truly believe that everything that I've went through has led me here... to you. So I can honestly say that I wouldn't change anything now that I know where that road leads, but before you I would've changed it all.
Because of this, I know I've been hard on you. I know I've tried hard to keep you from becoming any version of my former self, to keep you from being ashamed or embarrassed of your actions, and having regrets.
Growing up I was a believer of learning from your own mistakes and it wasn't until I had you that my feelings changed. I want you to learn from my mistakes, from my regrets, from my short comings, and from my failures. I've felt the pain and learned the lessons and now you don't have to.
I want to teach you from my experiences so badly that I know I had a hard time letting you make your own mistakes. For that I'd like to apologize. I'm sorry if I was too hard on you, if I got in the way of new experiences, if I made you feel like you weren't capable of making your own choices, and most importantly, if I tried to lead and force you on to the path that I wanted you to take instead of guiding and cheering you on as you discovered you own.
I hope you loved your childhood and are loving the woman you're becoming. I hope you tried your hardest to be kind to everyone and stay true to yourself and your beliefs. I hope you are constantly trying to evolve instead of change.
I know you had to make mistakes to to get to where you are today but don't let those mistakes define you. Don't look mournfully at past failures and wrong choices, instead be grateful for every experience and know that one day you'll look back and realize that you are exactly where you were meant to be.
