A letter for the day they turn 18
Write to a child while they are small, and let it arrive on the morning of their eighteenth birthday. The week they were born, the first day of school, the summer they would not remember otherwise.
An example
For the day you turn 18,
I wrote this the week you were born. You weigh a little over three kilos, you sleep with one fist in the air, and you have already decided that four in the morning is a fine time to be awake.
By the time you read this you will have had a thousand breakfasts I do not remember and a hundred arguments I hope we both forgot. I want you to know that on this first week, before any of it, you were already everything to us.
Whatever you are doing today, go and do something you are slightly afraid of. And call your grandmother. She asked me to write that.
From the person holding you right now,
A sample letter. Yours can be three lines or three pages.
When it arrives
The page sets the letter to arrive eighteen years from today. Change it to the morning of their eighteenth birthday.
Free up to a year ahead
The lines on this page open in the composer, with the day already set. Nothing is sent until you say so.
What to write
- Write what they are like right now: the words they say, what makes them laugh.
- Tell them something about yourself at eighteen. They will want to compare.
- One wish, not a list. The rest they will work out.
How it works
Write it
Start from the lines on this page or from a blank sheet. Add a photo, a recording, a file if you like.
Pick the day
Up to a year ahead is free. Further ahead costs one credit, and a paper letter can go up to a hundred years.
We keep it
Your letter is encrypted and waits for its day. You get a notice when it is delivered, and the reader can write one back.
Questions
Eighteen years is a long time. Will it really arrive?
Yes. The letter is kept encrypted with a date, and we send it on that day. Add a second address, or choose paper, so it reaches them even if an email address changes.
Can I add more letters over the years?
Yes. Many parents write one a year. Each is its own letter with its own day.
Can I change it after sending?
A paid letter can be edited until the day it is delivered. A free letter cannot.