J.B.'s Letter

Dear J.B.,

You are 31 years old and diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma.

You are entering a world that once only seemed to exist in other people’s stories. Suddenly, you are facing decisions about your body and your future that no one should have to make.

Despite the risks you are willing to take to survive—you worry about not being able to see your infant son go to kindergarten. This will be your greatest pain.

Like all new moms, you have heard many things about the first years of a child’s life. They’re often called the “hardest and most rewarding” years—the ones you’re supposed to “enjoy every minute of” because “it goes too fast”—and you will worry that you’ll never see the other side of them.

There’s so much you’ll want to discover with him: a sense of adventure, how to catch autumn leaves falling through the sunroof of your car, or what he thinks about French impressionism.

Beyond these losses, you are more afraid that he won’t even remember you.

So, you’ll find yourself striving to squeeze 18 years of life lessons into months. You’ll also learn that what he needs most from you is just…to love him as he is—today.

That is all he needs from you right now.

And he WILL remember that.

With Love,

Me

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