To my little princess.

You were born and the second I saw you, I felt so proud and thankful that you chose me to be your mother. You chose me to be your queen, to be your protector, to be your first ever teacher, to be your… unbreakable best friend.

To my little princess.

The second the doctor told me that you are female, my heart started beating as fast as a race car. What will I do to protect you? What will I teach you about? And I know one thing. I will teach you to be an unapologetic woman, to be a proud Indonesian woman, to be unbreakable, to be… a woman.

To my little princess. 

The day you finally call me ‘Mama’ or ‘Mom’, that is the day that I will realize that you will grow up. You will know how the world me as a woman, and you will know how the world will treat you as a woman.

My little princess…

You have to know that it is not easy to become a woman. As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said, people will teach you to shrink yourself. They will tell you what clothes you have to wear, what kind of body you should have. They will teach you how to speak, how to always aspire to marriage, how to find a rich man to marry rather than go to college and have a good education.

My little princess…

I won’t let you shrink yourself like that. Be your own kind of woman. Wear whatever clothes you want. Don’t think about what kind of body you should have but rather, think about how to have your own self-love towards your own body. Speak up. Be proud about your bold opinion. Be scary. Be determined. Also, you have the right to choose between marriage and college or even choose both. A bold note, sweetheart, is education is a key. Because, with education, you can do whatever you want in this world with a right mind and a right plan.

Sweetheart…

Every single woman, good or bad, is a teacher. They have their own story. They have their own struggle. They have their own goals in life. Take their pride as a woman, follow their positive side, and help them get through the right path if they fall down the hill. We are women, sweetheart, therefore we need to empower, critique, and help other women.