Dear Princess Sophia,

I just had a terrifying thought. Tomorrow you are going to be half way to being an official adult! I just felt another one of my hairs turn gray. I have noticed many ways over the past year that you have begun to transition from childhood into the tumultuous teen years on your journey to discovering yourself. You have discovered a book series that you simply can't put down, which has excited Mama and me as we always hoped you would develop a love of reading. Your love of telling stories has also continued to grow this year, and I have been very impressed with some of your stories from school as well as how your script was chosen by your OM team to be the basis for your performance.

Playing sports has continued to be something you have enjoyed doing this past year. I loved seeing you build your skills in basketball, and noticed your confidence on the court increase greatly throughout the year. I had a blast watching your last couple of games! One of the areas that I have most noticed your developing maturity is in your karate class. You are usually one of the best behaved kids in class, and have been able to make use of your incredible memory while learning new forms. I have also been impressed by how graceful and well balanced you are becoming in class, and have seen those benefits translate into your dancing as well.

You have a lot of natural talent, my sweet girl, but I do wish you would practice more often to help develop yourself further. You started to organize your practicing last year, and will need to refocus on that if you want to explore your real potential. You have big dreams, and I wouldn't have it any other way. You need to work hard and be passionate about your work if you want to realize your dreams.

As a closing thought, I want you to know that I am going to focus on spending more quality time with you this year. As your schedule gets more busy and you become more independent, it gets harder to find time for us to focus on our relationship. I cherish the time we do get together and I want you to know that I will always take the time to get to know the real you.

I love you.

Love, Daddy