Letter to My 12 Year-Old Orphan Self

I lost the only form of a parental figure I had ever known when I was 12. My heroic great grand-father, Marceau, died and went straight to heaven, no questions asked. He was 84 years old and spent the better years of his retirement raising grand-children and great grand-children.

I was placed in a foster home the month following his death as my alcoholic mother was in no way, shape, or form capable of raising me.

As the foster years went by, my sense of self-love, self-worth, and self-honor gradually became extinct. “You’ll end up being a prostitute and an alcoholic like your mother.” “You’re a good for nothing. You are too stupid to become anything more than your mother.” Those words were the daily prose my foster mom would jab at me.

So HERE is what I would tell my 12 years old self to save her self-worth and wrap her heart with strength and undefeatable self-esteem.

– You are not your mother. You come from her but you are in charge of who you are and who you become.
– You were born worthy of infinite love.

– You have to believe in yourself or nobody will.
– The power of love knows no boundaries. Keep your heart open. Give the love that you yearn for.
– Nobody can dictate your potential unless you allow them to.
– Every single heartache, humiliation, and hurdle will shape you into the woman you have always wanted to be.
– You will become a messenger of love as a result of the suffering you experienced. Today, I stand ever so grateful for the ghosts of my past as I stand strong in my mission to love endlessly and to heal the defiled souls of my brothers and sisters.

Lyna Jones