.before I was your mother.

To my dear Little Miss Sunshine,

You know, I wasn't always your Mommy. Once, I was also a little girl, very much like you. My hair was always unruly and tangled, and I got into trouble ALL the TIME! I like to think that I had 'character.'

Before I was your mother, I had (and still have) a best friend named Mischa. She and I knew each other since we were in the third grade. She and I (and your Auntie Iris) would spend many summers having fun going to Kailua beach, walking up to Liberty House so we could spend what little money we had on Sanrio pens and erasers, and putting on plays for your Tutu to enjoy. We used Grandma Sylvia's yellow blanket wrapped around Auntie Iris's head like a towel so she could play Rapunzel one time. We would have Barbie soap operas in our room while Tutu was watching "All My Children." Most of the time, while Tutu painted in her art room, we played downstairs and painted too. We'd create different paintings to hang in our "gallery" so that Tutu, our art director, could appreciate them. Ask Auntie Iris about "Dorky of Oz" someday.

I wasn't always your Mommy who tells you "Don't do that! That's a NO NO" all the time. As a matter of fact, your Grandma used to say the same things to me. Especially when I was caught pulling the leaves off of her ficus tree. She didn't like it when I pulled the leaves off. There were many times when I'd do something I shouldn't have like play with your Grandpa's cameras that were hanging in the bedroom closet. Whenever he needed to take a photo of something, he'd realize that the film was used up. When he had them developed, he found that most of the pictures were of the bedroom. He didn't like that very much. For a long time, I think my nicknames were "hard-headed" and "smart-alec." I think that meant I had character.

Before I was your Mommy who tells you that you need to eat your vegetables, I used to be a kid who loved Big Macs from McDonalds. My favorite drinks were root beer and Dr. Pepper. I was a junk food junkie! In the second grade we had to write down some of our favorite things. One was our favorite hobby. Mine at the time was eating.

Before I was your mother, I used to be a chubby little girl who loved going to the beach. I'd stay in the water all day and watch your Auntie run from the waves as they approached the shore (she was scared of the water). I loved to play in the sand. But at the end of the day, I hated having to dump clumps of them out of my underwear. I miss the sound of people laughing mixed in with the gentle roar of the waves crashing and the savory scent of barbeque! See that picture above? This is what I'd look like NOW in a bikini. Funny how some things never change.

There are so many more stories to share with you. You know, someday, you will have a little one that you can share YOUR stories with too, like how you love to sing "Happy Birthday" or rather "Halabirtday" every day since you turned two. You could tell them that your most favorite things in all the world are riding the carousel at the mall and your little doll, Mele. You could even tell them that your Mommy said YOU were a "character" and you are, my sweet, unruly haired child that I love so SO very much! X.O. ~Love, Mommy

Inspired by the book, Before I Was Your Mother. Written by Kathryn Lasky and Illustrated by LeUyen Pham.