I remember being so geeked about working with the American Academy of Pediatrics and learning about ACE's (Adverse Childhood Experiences). It gave me a new vocabulary to discuss some of what I'd experienced and what I've seen in a cross section of society and my community at large.

My dearest Frog Princess,

It is the summer of your 9th year and the summer of my initiation as an olorisha.

The other night, I felt an overwhelming sense of love for you and I just had to jot these words down. The feeling has not left me.

It is 4:51 a.m. I've been up for a bit and I'm wide awake. You are asleep. Not beside me on the pillow that you love to take over but, in your own bed. Mami should be asleep as well but, I don't know what's keeping me up.

Words. I think words are keeping me up. Words keep me company, you know. They weave themselves in my head and, by the time it's all said and done, they form a body that can be easily confused for a real person.

These are some of the questions I've gotten, like, since this morning. I have given my child a "questions" notebook but she never seems to have it on-hand. I am from the "because I said so" generation so, the concept of framing responses is new to me. And, it's exhausting, y'all!

We have had late nights around her feelings and her thoughts and processing questions and responses. On nights like those, I message my girlfriends and profess the melting of my body into the couch or bed a fact.