Dear 100-Year-Old Me,

A hundred years. I can’t even begin to imagine what life looks like for you now. Are we still here? Still standing, still breathing, still us? I hope so. I hope life has been kind to you, but I know it probably wasn’t always easy.

I don’t know where you are right now—what’s changed, what’s stayed the same—but I hope you still feel the love I’ve tried so hard to pour into this life. I hope you still remember what it felt like to hold my precious daughter’s tiny hand, to hear her laughter echo through the house, to be her safe place. By now, she’s grown into her own person, with dreams and a life that’s hers. I wonder if she still calls just to talk, if she still hugs you like she did when she was little. I hope she still knows how much she means to me, even from all these years away.

And my dear husband. Tell me he’s still there, still making you laugh when you least expect it. Tell me we didn’t take him for granted. That we held onto him, loved him fully, and appreciated every joke, every hug, every small moment that made the hard days easier. Together, I hope we’ve built a life full of love, laughter, and memories, watching our daughter become the person she always dreamed of being. I hope she found the courage to chase what truly sets her heart on fire—whether it was pursuing a career she loved, making an impact on the world, or carving out a life that was uniquely hers. And through all of this, I hope she became the incredible mom and wife she was always destined to be, living with love, strength, and purpose.

Are we happy? Not in the surface-level, fleeting way, but deep down where it really counts. Did we ever learn to let go of the pressure, the constant need to do everything just right? Did we finally allow ourselves to just be? Because I’m trying. I really am. But sometimes, I get caught up in being everything for the people I love, and I wonder if I’ll ever feel like I did enough.

And my parents… I hope, by now, I’ve fully made peace with the past. I know I spent so much of my life carrying the weight of their absence, questioning why things were the way they were. But I also know that forgiveness is something I chose, and I hope it was enough to bridge the distance that time had created. Did I ever truly feel like they saw me, like they understood the life I built despite everything? I hope, at the very least, they knew that I tried. That even through the hurt, I still wanted to create something better, to be the kind of parent I once longed for.

I hope you’re still creating. I hope the camera didn’t get packed away in some forgotten box, that the words are still coming when you need them most. I hope you’re still capturing life—not just for others, but for you.

And when it’s all said and done, I just want to know that the love we gave, the lessons we learned, and the memories we made—they live on. I hope we’ve done our best, even when it was hard.

Take care of us. I’m doing my best, and I hope that when I finally get to where you are, I can look back and know that was enough.

I may spend my life wondering if I did enough, but I hope time will show that love was always my greatest gift.

Love,
Your younger self