Dear Girls,

At your Aunt Cassie’s wedding, the emergency alert blared on my phone: FLASH FLOOD WARNING. I scanned our surroundings. We were half-way up a hill, but in a flimsy tent, with you all scattered, playing with your cousins.

My mind raced through scenarios about how to collect you and get to safety, if necessary. At the same time, I didn’t actually know what to do.

Just days later, on our drive to school, you couldn’t believe how high the Potomac River looked. That very same day, in Westernport, Maryland, floodwaters quickly filled the first floor of an elementary school trapping 150 students and their teachers inside. Emergency workers had to shuttle them to safety in rescue boats.

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Now, as we check-off the summer camp packing list, parents in Texas are mourning their daughters, just your age, who will not be coming home from their summer camp.

The harsh reality of parenting today is this: our children are living in a changing climate. Above-average rainfall, once-in-a-hundred-year storms, severe drought, and record-breaking heat are part of your present and future. What my generation perceived as extremes, you will know as average. What we perceived as volatility, you will experience as your norm.

I remember Hurricanes, like

© Time