To Amelia on your 2nd birthday

Dear Amelia, So last year you turned one and I gave you some advise about this adventure you are about to take known as life. Now you are two and I guess it’s time to give you some more advise on how to enjoy this incredible trip. First and foremost, Dream! Dream big and dream often! Always, ALWAYS follow your dreams no matter how out of reach, how silly or stupid they might seem to others. Don’t let others make you feel embarrassed for dreaming, they are just jealous that they don’t have a dream or worse they never went after it. Never give up on dreaming for if you do, one day you may wake up regretting that you never went for it. If you let that happen and your regrets out number your dreams that’s when you know you have grown old. So keep dreaming to stay young forever or you will be outside of awesome looking in. You don’t want to live out the rest of your life wondering what if. You get what anyone gets, you get a lifetime. Please don’t keep putting it off for tomorrow, because tomorrow never really comes it just turns into today, and what better time to start following your dreams than the present. What in this world as ever come badly from someone following their dreams what? Second, never settle! Life is far too short to just settle for second best or good enough. Now I’m not saying to go through life with an attitude that all is below you. Don’t walk in to a restaurant and order a Pepsi and all they sell is Coke and scoff it off and demand a Pepsi, that is being rude and spoiled and no one likes that. No one wants to be treated that way and they don’t deserve it, you are better than that. So take the Coke drink it down and enjoy it, this is not settling it is accepting which is different. However if you order a Pepsi and they bring you a Ginger Ale then politely ask them if you had ordered a Pepsi, there is no need to get mad and all crazy about it, people do make mistakes. If that is what you ordered and it was wrong then express in a pleasant way that it was wrong, you can do it in a nice manor that wont hurt any feelings and make you look like a mean person. What I’m talking about is never take the road well travelled take the road less traveled it will be harder and with more bumps along the way but worth every moment. Never just give in. I never want to hear you say “oh well this job pays the bills so I guess I will stay” before you know it sweetheart, you are retiring from a job you hate. Please don’t confuse love of co-workers for love of job; they are two completely different things. Also don’t settle for just anyone in the world of love, if you do, you may grow to resent them. The one that you let in and love should be the person that lets you feel happy, no one can MAKE you feel happy but they should allow YOU to feel happy, they should stand behind you and push you to follow your dreams, they will not judge you and they will always, always love you for just being you. This whole not settling for second best thing is kind of important in so many ways. It’s hard to express the gravity of this on paper but trust me. If you settle for things in life it will create this small pretty little stress snowball and before you know it that cute little stress snowball has grown out of control and all it wants to do is suck you up in its path of destruction and you don’t want to go down that path, it’s a path that hurts and destroys every last ounce of happiness. So please never settle for second, you will be so much happier if you don’t. Third, I would like you to always be proud, be proud of your work and who you are. If you find yourself one day writing a letter to your niece or painting a picture or singing a song, what ever it may be, be so damn proud of it and yourself. You know why? I’ll tell you why, because YOU made it, you did it all on your own and it’s yours to be proud of. As long as you put your whole heart into it and you do it with passion then you should be oh so proud of yourself. The reason you should feel proud is because you had the courage to do it and put it out there for others to see, regardless if some eyes that see it think it’s not their cup of tea, still be proud. I bet you everything that I am, the reason that those who didn’t like it in the first place are too afraid to stand up and show the world what they are passionate about and fear the chance of rejection, but rejection is a part of life so accept it, put it behind you and move forward with your head held high and proud of your work. I promise you for those few people that didn’t like it, there is a greater group of people that loved it and want more of it from you. These people that loved it and are proud of you for doing it, these people are called your friends. So if you do what you are passionate about and you do it with your whole heart in it, it will only be more gratifying each time you do it again. Just don’t get cocky kid, be confidant but not pompous and you will be amazed by the work you will churn out. To the victor go the spoils. So in conclusion I guess what I’m trying to say is Dream it, Do it and be Proud of it. If you never do, you will never know, and that’s no way to live life. Take it from your uncle the self-confessed dreamer, it’s better to have dreamt and failed than to never have gone after the dream at all. I’m 38 and just learning this now, I guess better late than never. ….the juice is worth the squeeze! So to my niece on her second birthday I want you to know if none of my other dreams come true at least I tried, and I gave it my all. I will never stop dreaming. So if the only dream that has come true in my life is you, then I am the luckiest man alive, and I thank you for making that dream come true. Happy Birthday, my sweet princess Amelia Love, Uncle Casey