A letter to Bella, gif party style: Haters gonna hate

My sweet, sweet Bella,

Right now, you're struggling a bit with how others perceive you. I blathered at you at length in the car on the way to school this morning; you indulged me and gave the appearance of listening, even if you weren't, for which your old mom is grateful. I'm not entirely certain what I said sunk in, though, so I wanted to write you this letter. Also, I am going to intersperse my advice with Community gifs, because you love Community just like I do, because we are TOTALLY AWESOME, like this Troy gif:

Sometimes, people just suck. Sometimes, those people are people who are close to you, people that you look up to and love and admire. And that's hard to deal with, baby, really hard.

aaaaaAAAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!! (nosebleed)

I love you, just the way you are. Now, keep in mind that, being loved just the way you are is not a license to not change, to not learn and grow. "Mom says I'm fine the way I am, so why should I study for that science test" is not a valid excuse for blowing stuff off.

I love you no matter what, but I do expect you to try.

You are not perfect, my love. But neither am I - neither are any of us - so no one is asking you to be perfect. Chin up, my love!

Not a gif, but still funny

I think you are an AMAZING child. You astonish me every day with your goodness, your kindness, your sweet, loving heart. You are smart, funny, charmingly weird, and one of the best things that has ever happened to me in my life. I don't know I got lucky enough to be your mom, but I thank God for you every day.

This is how I feel about being your mom.

There are going to be times in your life when  you feel glum, when you feel low and sad and depressed and alone...

But you can always turn to your mom, because girl...

I got this, baby love. Bring it to mom and we'll work it out.

You need to talk? Cry? Scream? Laugh? Need some space? Need some air?

You got it, dollface.

Eventually, you'll feel better. Like this:

You see, sometimes, grown-ups don't like change either. Sometimes we're downright afraid of it. We see circumstances changing, we see people changing, people growing, and it scares us a bit.

It's scary to think of you growing up, of you not needing us as much anymore. And instead of saying a prayer and letting go, sometimes people like to grasp a hold even more tightly. They mean well, and they love you so much. They just don't want to let go. Hopefully, eventually, these people will have a moment of dawning realization:

...and realize that you are the amazing girl you are, with the amazing foundation that you have, and realize that
you got this. So just remember: YOU ARE...

TOTALLY awesome.

So you should just be the amazing you that you are. Feel free to be as weird as you want to be:

Although maybe not this weird.

And remember, you are loved. You are treasured. You are special and sweet and a child of God. We all experience some speed bumps in life every now and then - we all have a lot to learn still, even us grown-ups. We're all just trying to do the best job that we can. You're going to be ok - we're all going to be ok. And that's OK.

OK!

Love,
Mom