Dear Emily,
Tomorrow you will turn 18.
At 18, you probably don’t want me to write about one of my favorite memories of you.
I love the memories of shopping in the grocery store & sensing movement & there you were.
At 18:
You will be able to vote. You will be accountable in a court of law for any infractions. You can enter into a contract & you can buy property. If you were a male, you would be required to register for the Selective Service, just in case Congress decides to bring back the Draft & call you into military service (a sexist act – women are among our troops in both these crazy wars we are fighting).
Voting is huge.
I wish that your grandfather had lived to know the wonder you are & the wonder your mother has become & the wonder she married.
In these times, when people across the world are protesting for the right to vote, you will be given the right & responsibility to vote tomorrow morning.
Vote with your conscience & conviction.
Grandpa Jack raised me to vote that way – he did not always agree (there is the famous story of him throwing a plate of spaghetti across the room when I told him I was voting Democrat, not Republican, the first time I voted).
But he believed in voting with conscience & conviction.
Jack would have adored you. Third generation Aggie – nothing would have made him prouder.
You will be going off to college, living “independent” of your parents, very soon.
That is huge. Your parents have given you a wonderful foundation in faith & family & friends.
I know that my father, your grandfather, Jack , will be watching over you. Wonder that you are,
Love,
Jaki
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