Do you remember us?

A letter from your great-great-great parents

Dear Liza, Lizenka,

How swiftly time moves, generation after generation passing like footsteps in snow. And now, look how far our blood has travelled: into the woman you have become.

We could never have imagined that our great-great-great grandchildren would grow into someone so full of grace, strength, and quiet beauty. Through wars and winters, through silence and song, something of us endured, and found its way into you.

We watch with pride, and with wonder. You carry more than a name or a face; you carry memory, resilience, and the long breath of history.

May this world be kind to you, even when it is not gentle. May you walk forward knowing you are never alone, for we stand behind you, generation upon generation, rooted in your becoming.

With all our love,
Your great-great-great parents

Sint-Petersburg, Russia, 1900

My dear,

I am writing to you from my early thirties. How deeply I loved those long summer days by the sea, with friends, swimming in the water, and sometimes entirely alone. No one told me who to be or what to do. In those moments, I tasted freedom.

The sun low in my eyes, salt on my skin. Ah, how sweet life can be when you are young, when the world still feels wide and forgiving.

I cannot be with you on this day, and that saddens me. But know this: in your heart, I walk beside you, always.

You carry my fierce spirit within you. The look in my eyes. My joy for life. My courage — unafraid of what is coming, ready to meet it head-on.

I wish you a beautiful year, and all that awaits you in your time. May your life be deep, brave, and full.

A great, tender embrace, from your great-grandmother

A letter from your grand-grandmother

A letter from your grand-grandparents

Dear Lizenka,

How quickly time moves through our family line. Today you turn thirty, and that is something truly special. It is an age that stands for many things: love for yourself, for others, and for all that you still wish to do and become.

They often say this is where life truly begins. By now, you know who your people are — those with whom you choose to spend your days, and those you let go of. You know who sits with you at long tables: friends, family, loved ones. There is space for all of it.

Do not grieve growing older. Life itself remains young.

We think of you every day. We celebrate you. We raise our glasses to you.

With all our love,
your great-grandmother and great-grandfather

Oh, summer breeze, friendships, the sea, movement — what a life.

Dear you,

Today is your birthday — a special age. I am not very good with words, but there is one thing I know for certain: you have grown into a remarkable young woman. Just like your mother, and your grandmother before her — self-assured, brave, always someone who gets things done.

Your creativity, I believe, comes from me. From the deepest parts of the ocean and all the secrets they hold.

I wish you a good year. One filled with wisdom, love, and the people who matter to you most.

Your grandfather

Dear child of mine,

I still remember holding you in my arms — my granddaughter, my dearest girl. I remember you rolling across the floor with your sisters, our bodies tangled in laughter, the warmth of our embraces. The days were long then, filled only with us. Just us. Together.

You were always running, never still for a moment. You flew from one place to another, as if the world could not contain you fast enough, and I ran after you, smiling, trying to keep up. You grew so quickly. That curious gaze of yours, always searching, always wanting more from the world — never pausing, never waiting.

How I miss you. How I wish I could be there today to celebrate your womanhood — the woman you have become, and the woman you are allowed to be. Your freedom. Your independence. Your courage. You are the kind of granddaughter one can only dream of.

I celebrate this day from above. I watch over you. I protect you. I am with you — always.

With endless love,
Your grandmother

A letter from your grandmother

Dear you, my love,

What a life, what a life. I see you shining. I see you climbing mountains, crossing rivers, crossing seas. Look at how vast you have become. No longer simply a girl — a woman. A real woman. Look at yourself. Look into the mirror. See how you glow, how your smile shifts the world, even when you do not notice it yourself.

I must confess: you carry my eyes, my temperament, my way of being. You have my style — oh, woman. My child, you have grown into someone so beautiful, so full. If I could reach you, if I were allowed one moment more, I would kiss you without hesitation.

I miss you — from the Baltic Sea, from the winds that come and go, from the air that rushes through us and reminds us that we are alive. Do not forget where your home is. It lives in rivers and mountains, in the sea, in all that grows and all that moves. Your home is not one place.

Your home is the world.

A great kiss, a great embrace from above,
your grandmother

A letter from your grandfather

From the generations before us, everything keeps flowing — love, wisdom, who we are, and who we are becoming. Nothing stands alone; everything is bound together. My home is your home, my sister. My big sister. My life.

“I love chips,” she said with a serious look, “because my entire family loves potatoes.”

Your birthday present?

still pending…

coming soon…

Dear Liza,

What an age. An age of hidden words, of things left unsaid. Secrets of growing older, or of staying young. Of who you take after, and who you do not. Many paths, many studies, many interests — moving from here to there. Perhaps that comes from me.

A beetle from the desert, close to my ancestors, your ancestors.

You have it from us, from your family — the uncertainty, the heaviness, the writing, the thinking, the reading, the losing. And yet you continue. Because I, too, was once young. And so are you.

Grandpa