For Sophia Dominguez-Heithoff

 July 25, 2017

Dear Sophia,

Like so many of the minions of your followers, I feel I know you through you parents & extended family (especially tu padrino Juan Rangel).

Over the years, we have watched you blossom from a little girl who thought Kate Middleton's dress was not grand enough for a royal wedding, into a full-fledged fashion icon & model.

And, more importantly, into a lovely, bright, talented & focused young woman of intense faith & purpose.

On this day, celebrating your early graduation from high school & wishing you well for the upcoming Miss Teen USA competition, your mother asked us to give you words of advice.  

So, my advice, after sixty plus years, is simple.

Be yourself, be true to that self & to the text you are writing for your life.  Remember the core of who you are, who & what shaped you, what makes you uniquely Sophia.

My favorite picture from your quinceañera.  

Although you are not quite eighteen, you are embarking on a very grown up & adult adventure.  Whatever happens on the 29th - your adventure will begin & continue to evolve.  College or a year as Miss Teen USA or both.

It is your adventure, your story, your text,  Write it well.

With every confidence in you, I send you my most sincere & best wishes for the writing of your text, Sophia Julieta Dominguez-Heithoff.  

I look forward to reading it.

One of your minions & an avid reader,

Jaki Jean 

(Disclaimer:  Sophia, my text here differs slightly from what I wrote you to in the missive I snail-mailed.   Writers always reserve the right to edit, edit, edit.)