This is for you, dear one, for when you feel rejected, unappreciated, unseen. For all those times when you feel like your light has been overlooked, your specialness unacknowledged, your worth ignored. These words are here to remind you that you, my sweet, are luminous, cherished, and yes, loved – loved beyond all measure.

Shine, baby girl. Shine!

For too long now you’ve been content to live in the shadows sitting in the back row, blending into the background, believing that this was where you belonged. But you were meant for so much more.

Your voice which you keep so small and contained, barely breaking above a whisper, was made for singing arias so sweet that the hearts of all those listening cast off their armour and melt into the loveliness of you. It was made for speaking out when others were too meek. It was made, my darling, for howling at the moon.

Your body that you sometimes cannot bear to look upon, that body was made for dancing, for pleasure, for the sheer joy that fills your limbs as you run out into the wind that whistles and gusts through the harbour, past the lighthouse and out towards sea.

Your heart was made to love big, to break open, to race at the touch of your lover as he places butterfly kisses along the line of your neck, his breath settling into the hollow of your throat.

Your hands were made for holding the small bodies of your children close to your chest, and they were also made to let those children go. They were made to craft beauty, express meaning. They were made so that they could lightly touch an angel’s wing through the gaps in the thin places.

And yes, there will be those who overlook you. Who don’t see you for the radiant being that you are. But that is because they don’t see you clearly, the real you, the one who feels truly, loves madly, breathes deeply.

But, I see you, my darling. I see you.

I see your beauty sparkling in your eyes.

I see your kindness resting in your embrace.

I see your joy dancing in the cadence of your voice.

I see you, and please believe me when I tell you that, you are magnificent.

Shine, baby girl. Shine!