A letter from June 21st, 2020

Our parting words, Alright if you're getting this then you must have gotten the past 2 letters. You've probably looked back at all the pictures of when we were a kid, all the pictures of when we were in Egypt and Iraq. All the photos of Mom and dad and uncle and the family. All our achievements and the report cards that we saved from all our years in school. All the pictures in Toronto and all the pictures of god knows where you are right now. I hope you remember how we were like at my age. I hope you look at the world in the same joyful way, knowing that the world isn't against you. You just gotta stay strong and keep pushing. I hope you're doing what you love and living in the moment. Staying true to you're beliefs and being the change you know you could be. Live up to your fullest potential and take risks. Put your heart into everything you do and there's no way you'll lose. Appreciate those around you and always be the best human being you can be. Be kind, strong-willed, smart, enthusiastic, outgoing and adventurous. Your finally old enough to travel huh, why don't you go plan a summer trip right now eh. Have fun. Life is to short to have regrets. Regret what you didn't do and not what you did. Find what you love and keep it close. And find who you love and keep her even closer. Read, read and read some more. Eat, eat and eat some more. Exercise exercise, and well, you know the rest. 5 years ago (so today for me), you were just a 16-year-old boy who barely knew anything about the world around him or even anything about your own self. You felt so lost and not knowing what the future held. You had no purpose and no idea of what's gonna happen next. The only thing that kept you pushing was knowing one day you'll read this letter and look back at how far you've come. You'll see it was all worth it. When we were younger we thought we knew everything huh, that we had everything planned out and nothing could stop us. That we were ready for everything. That eventually changed and reality struck. I bet it's only gonna get harder eh. I'm so proud of you for making it to where ever you are right now. There's so much we're capable of and there are so many lives we can change. There is a meaning in life, and I hope you find it. May all our dreams come true, and may we keep believing in even more possibilities. I hope we find our happiness and our purpose. I hope that we are finally leaving behind a legacy. I hope, that you won't stop dreaming, that you realize this is just the beginning, and that there's so much more ahead. I can't wait to meet you, Ali A Salman June 21, 2020