My son recently celebrated his second birthday. These past two years have flown by. It feels like he was just learning to crawl the other day. Now he is running around, getting into the refrigerator and keeping me up late on some nights.
There are days I just stare at him. Even when he is destroying the playroom. And I wonder to myself, “What kind of father am I to him? Am I really getting him prepared for the future?” I guess I will get the answer to these questions as the years progress, but I decided I will write him a letter, just in case he needs direction.
Hey, big guy,
Let me start off this letter for your second birthday by telling you I am very proud of you. As you are growing I can see your personality starting to take shape. It scares me at times because you are a little hard-headed, like your mother. However, I’m happy about that because it means you will not easily back down from what you believe in. That is a great trait to have. Don’t ever lose that.
You are adventurous, cheerful, fearless, loud and full of life. Those are also traits I do not want you to lose. I love just sitting down and watching you explore what is around you, be it jumping from couch to couch or constructing objects with your blocks. You amaze me with your imagination. There are times when you sit by the window and just examine everything in your sight. I can tell you are questioning why things are the way they are. You want to ask me about them, but your words are still being developed.
I cannot wait until the day when we can just sit on the stairs and talk about all that surrounds us. I do this with your sister. Soon, I want to hear your questions and try to answer them to the best of my abilities. I am not an expert on everything, but together we can expand our minds with new topics and learn. Learning is a great thing. I hope you and your sister appreciate all the world has to offer you.
I remember how we decided to go to our local park one day and I forgot that it was under construction. When we got there it was all fenced up and we could not play in there, but that didn’t stop us from having fun. We ran around and looked at the new park and I started picturing us playing in there as soon as it opened up.
We made a good situation out of a bad one. That is something that you should always try to do. Instead of complaining about the bad things going on, do something to turn it around and make it a better situation.
I know there are times I am not with you 100 percent. By that I mean we are in the same room playing together, but my mind is wandering somewhere. At those times, I am thinking about things that I should not be thinking about. Things like: bills, my career, our home and what the future holds for us. Instead of thinking about this stuff, I should be focused on the now. I should just be enjoying the moment and not worrying about what is ahead.
Once I read a book about focusing on the present rather than the past or future. I have lost that ability and I need to do that now with you and your sister. You two are constantly changing and I do not want to miss a moment of that.
Remember as you get older there are things that are going to happen to you that you can not control. What makes you the person you are is how you react to those situations. I feel that your mother and I are raising you with so much love that when you come to those moments, you will rise above them.
Now some of my favorite quotes that will help you out in life:
“Do, or do not, there is no try.”
“If you put your mind to it, anything is possible.”
“Never give up, never surrender!”
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
OK, big guy. That’s all for now. I didn’t mean to take up too much of your time, but I hope you come back to this post every now and then because I think you will get something different from each reading.
Love you,
Your Daddy
Who knows? Maybe he’ll read this, maybe he won’t, but I think he will … when I’m not looking.
A version of this first appeared on FanDads.
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