This One Is For You
The rest of this site was written for the grown-ups.
Hello.
You found this.
Somebody who loves you has been reading about
a year that was made for you.
This page is the part that is yours.
Here Is What We Think. You Get To Decide Whether It Is True.
You already know more than anybody has told you.
There is a feeling that lives right in the middle of your chest.
It tells you when a moment is right.
It tells you when a moment is off, before you can explain why.
That feeling is older than you are, and it belongs to you.
You are allowed to take up room.
Loud on the days you are loud.
Quiet on the days you are quiet.
Certain on Tuesday and completely unsure by Thursday,
and both of those are fine.
You are allowed to change your mind about anything,
including this.
Your body is yours.
Your voice is yours.
What you want is yours to want.
You do not have to earn any of it,
and nobody gets to hand it to you either.
It was already there.
And You Are Not Doing This On Your Own
Growing into a woman is one of the great crossings,
and for a very long time girls made it by themselves.
Your mum, or your dad, or whoever brought you here —
they made that crossing alone.
They are here so that you will not.
Behind them is a long line of women
who wished somebody had walked beside them,
and who decided it stops with you.
You Get A Say In This
If you like the sound of it, say so.
If you would rather wait a while, say that instead.
That is a real answer, and it will be heard.
There is one word we would like you to have either way.
OYAKO
親子 · oh-YAH-koh
It means I need time with you.
Say it to the person who brought you here and they come — with no reason needed, no explanation, and no questions. Just the two of you, near each other, and that being enough.
It runs both ways. On the days they need to be near you, they get to say it too.
That is all.
You are asked for none of it.
Close this whenever you like,
and go back to whatever you were doing.
With love, from the women who are already standing around you.