The fact that you are reading this means that you would know the answer to a question that has kept me up at night more often than I would like to admit: Did I make you proud?

You are growing up in a time of immense change. In the last two years alone, we’ve learned so much about big and important issues including climate change and the systemic racism that runs through our institutions.

As a minister, I have preached that we are here to be of service to others and to be care takers of this wonderful planet that God has given us.

We can learn a lot about how to treat others from stories that have been passed from generation to generation.

Nossa vida só tem qualidade se tem natureza ao nosso redor.

I asked you, the future , to help us as well, to preserve our only planet that can give us life, that can let us watch anime, go to the beach, smell flowers, run through the meadow, listen to our songs, be in a concert, and let us live.

I feel deeply that it is my moral obligation as your Mom to protect your future and allow you to inherit a clean and healthy planet.

I promise to wholeheartedly live my life with an awareness of my personal impact on our communities and our planet.

I hope I can look you in the eye and tell you I honestly did everything I could to protect our planet.

I hope that you all can enjoy the Smokey Mountains in your lifetime too and that they look how they did back in 2017 when I saw them.