By Eris Zion Venia
Dear Eris,
Ten years ago, you wrote a letter to your future daughter. Today, you’re sitting next to your child who is three and a half months old, watching Sesame Street as you write this. Wow. What a testament of patience. I know you had your doubts about whether this particular dream would come true. It has!
So now I ask you, “What are we going to dream up next?” Zora Neale Hurston said, “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” What questions can we conjure in service of what we want to become? How do you want to love? How do you want to explore the world? How do you want to serve your community? What passions do you want to make figural? What doubts do you want to leave behind?
I am so proud of you. I’m proud of how you’ve handled every obstacle. I’m thrilled at the ways you’ve explored. How you’ve healed yourself, how you’ve given room for others to heal themselves. You’ve trusted your truth. You’ve been unabashedly out of the closet as bisexual, and then you trusted your village enough to identify as non-binary. And now, after surviving COVID three times and living with long COVID, you’re not afraid to say that you’re disabled. Nothing has stopped you. You’ve traveled, you’ve created art, you’ve loved. You also have experienced divorce, immense heartbreak, loss, and grief.
Through it all, you’ve remained. You’ve thrived.
Always remember, you are your own dream come true.
Love,
Eris
Eris Zion Venia (she/they) is a Black, bisexual, nonbinary and disabled consultant, advocate, artist, and writer from Cleveland, Ohio. They are the proud parent of Yahsiin Zora Venia.