TRAILBLAZER

I will not be your only guide on this journey. Nor will your mother. We will have lots of help from many wonderful people. I've asked some of them to write you, too.

Dear Spike:

Your father — your wonderful, incredible father — is insisting on getting us all emotional about you already. As he's noted, you are only about as big as a pea right now, but that doesn't matter; we are all very excited that you are coming to meet us, soon.

You're going to be very special in our family because you are the first of your generation. You will not understand this for awhile but, as the first child of my generation — well, more or less tied for first — I can tell you a little about what this means.

First and foremost, you will be very loved. You will have lots and lots of photos taken of you. You will be the guinea pig for just about everything. You will be a little spoiled. You will be passed around like a football when you are small.

You will have some pretty big expectations placed on you from the time you arrive. You will have to watch over all the other kids in your generation and put up with a lot of nonsense on their behalf.

And you will be a leader, whether you want to be or not.

You won't believe this, once you get to know me, but I was terribly shy as a small kid. I might never have become a leader if it hadn't been my birthright, but the default title has given me a lot of incredible opportunities in my life — both incredibly good and incredibly bad. It can be quite difficult to be the leader but its also very exciting. You are the trailblazer.

I was lucky enough to be a trailblazer for your father (though he also blazed plenty of his own trails.) When your dad was born I was not even two years old but I immediately assumed my role. I climbed into his crib, gave him my favorite dolly and showed him how to play with her.

I was lucky enough to be a trailblazer for your father — though he also blazed plenty of his own trails. When your dad was born I was not even two years old but I immediately assumed my role. I climbed into his crib, gave him my favorite dolly and showed him how to play with her. We were best friends from that day until I was about 11 years old — when we decided to strongly dislike each other for about 6 or 7 years before becoming best of friends again.

The first night in my dorm room at college I reached under my pillow and found a letter from him, thanking me for always paving the way for him, for trying out the mean teachers first, for breaking in our mom and dad and for experiencing things so that he could watch and learn.

That was my best leader moment. Ever.

Someday you will have a little brother or sister and you will get to know how great that is.

Spike, you are so lucky. You get to be one of us — and, you will soon
learn, that we are better than everyone else!

Every member of your family is a leader, in one way or another, so you've got a pretty stellar network of support. I hope that, as “firsts” you and I will have a special bond and that you will come to me whenever you are having trouble blazing that trail. Maybe I'll even be able to show you the way.

Love,
Aunt Kelly