Fatherhood

***Written on Father's Day 2012***

 

Dear beloved,

You have the best father in the world and you haven’t even met him yet.  I think about that a lot.  If you only knew the love he has for you already!

Your dad is truly one of a kind.  It’ll be awhile before you can understand that, but rest assured that you’ll know it one day, and it will have been true all along.  He is a treasure, and we are both blessed to have him.

We don’t know yet what you will look like, but I hope your dad passes on to you his big green eyes, tall frame, good health, and iron stomach.  And we don’t know yet what your personality will be, but I hope you get his tender heart, gentle disposition, unselfish spirit, and incredible sense of humor.

One thing is for sure—you’ll need to love baseball.  It’s OK if you don’t love it at first.  I didn’t either.  But give it time, and it will grow on you.  The Texas Rangers are our team.  Watching the Rangers play is your dad and I’s special thing.  But he’s waited his whole life to have you to take to games.  Your lifetime will be full of going to Rangers' games, you can rest assured of that.  I pray that you enjoy that time with him as much as he’ll enjoy it with you.

There are two other things your dad will surely teach you to love.  The first is reading.  Your dad is an avid reader, and it’s a big part of what makes him so smart.  His favorite place on earth (other than the Ballpark) is the library.  I have no doubt that he will take you there often.  Every day if you’ll let him.  I pray that you will develop your attention span very early so that you can enjoy hearing your dad read you stories.  He does the best voices, as you’ll soon discover. 

Your dad will also surely teach you to love the mornings.  Your mom is not a morning person.  But boy your dad sure is.  I just know that you two will be morning buddies.  Whether it’s cooking breakfast, taking Maya on a walk, watching cartoons, or discussing the box score from last night’s Rangers game… the mornings will be your special time together.  I pray that you wake up as eager to spend time with him as he’ll be to spend time with you.

There really isn’t much else you need to know about your dad; his actions will tell you everything.  He’s not the closed off type.  He loves you fiercely, and not a day of your life will pass without him making you aware of that. 

You are one lucky kid,

Mom