Charlie-Helen Robinson

Dear Jessika-May

Birthdays feel different when love is on the other side of the planet. But wherever you are, you’re never far from me. Happy birthday, my bright little pill.

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Today, my daughter Jessika-May turns another year older — and I find myself feeling many things at once. I feel proud, amazed, even joyful. She’s living her life boldly in Scotland, making her path, curating her own playlist of moments and milestones. She’s thriving. She’s growing into exactly who she’s meant to be.

And yet, I miss her.

Not in a dramatic, aching kind of way — in the quiet spaces. In the everyday rituals that used to be shared. Morning coffees. Laughter (and singing) in the car. Movie nights. The way she’d light up a room or laugh at my cooking. I miss the simple nearness. I miss being able to hug her on her birthday instead of sending emojis, voice notes, and poems across time zones.

There’s a beautiful tension in this kind of love — the kind that stretches over continents but never thins. I celebrate the life she’s chosen, the courage she carries, the joy she finds in new cities and unfamiliar streets. And at the same time, I carry the gentle ache of absence.

Still, our bond finds a way. Through midnight messages. Through Troye Sivan songs. Through shared memories, and new stories waiting to be told next time we’re in the same place.

So today, from Australia to Scotland, I send her a wish wrapped in love and light — and a little laughter too.

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In a world of noise, you’re our calm,
A spark that colours every quiet hill.
Like Troye’s beats through a haze,
You lift spirits and tackle the maze.
Happy birthday, my bright little pill.

You shimmer through grey, like a neon sign,
With laughter that dances on every line.
A rebel heart with a poet’s grace,
You bring the stars a little closer to place —
Lighting June with your sunlit shine.

No Gucci flash or dollar bill
Could match your wild and wondrous will.
You’re the anthem that plays on repeat,
In crowded days or quiet retreat —
Jessika-May, you’re sweetness distilled. 💫