Jackson,
Today I realized that I was one day not going to be here for you. It is hard to think about and while we were rocking in the chair in your room, this is what I told you. I pray every day that when I leave this earth, you know I will watch over you every day. Every day until we meet again, I will wait for you at the gates of Heaven. I will love you forever, and you are never alone. Life will get hard, the rough patches only last a little while. You are bound to be better than I ever was, because my greatest wish is that you are more successful than I ever will be. I will forever be your guardian angel.
There is one thing I want you to know however, and that is to achieve great things, you have to take great chances. Your dad was never a risk taker, I am afraid of heights, flying, and I cannot stand elevators. However, your dad was really good at meeting people and eventually became a very social person. One of the chances that I took that forever changed my life was an internship at the Tennessee State Senate. It taught me how to grow up, pay my bills, and live on my own.
I took this chance late in college and when I did I met one of my best friends in the world. She and I have always been hundreds of miles apart, but we are never out of each others prayers. Your Aunt Heather has seen me at my best, and she has seen me at my lowest point, but by randomly choosing to do something I would have never normally done, I made a friend for life. I took a chance in meeting your mother and eventually took a chance to get her to marry me. I guess what I am saying is that without taking a chance in this life, I wouldn't be where I am today, and those risks have made all the difference. By the time you can read and understand this, I don't know where in life we will be, but I hope you can take to heart the lesson I am trying to impart here. Take a chance, be great at whatever you choose, and know you are loved and supported in all you do. I will talk to you soon, but until then....
I love you Son,
Dad
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
Where do I start?
Jackson,
i am sitting here at midnight and for the past few days i have been wondering how i wanted to say this...how could i give something that we can both look back on and laugh and share thoughts and enjoy for our lifetime. i decided that i would write you the story of me, which has become the story of you and your mom really. it was a miracle that i am even able to write this tonight. never in a million years did i think i would end up with your mother. somehow though through miracle, destiny, whatever you want to call it here we are. i have found purpose in life with the both of you. so it is with that, i will tell you the story, as best i remember it, of how your mom and i met.
it was 1998 and i had been in college for four years, the appropriate age to be leaving college, but i was just really getting started. hopefully your grandma and grandpa will be able to tell you the story, and theirs won't exactly match mine, but that is o.k. parents and their children's stories rarely ever match up. your uncle Keith, who by the way you should pay attention to, the guy has some pretty neat stuff to say, and i had joined a fraternity. i had joined before him and he was a sissy and waited longer than i, but i digress...for that is a story for another time. but anyway we were celebrating homecoming, which is another word for a weeklong party to most people in a fraternity or sorority, loosely based upon the fandom of the University of Memphis football team. well it just so happened that your mother's sorority agreed to do homecoming with us. so on the first night of the get-togethers that you have to create this massive paper float i saw your mom. she was standing talking to some of her sisters and i, being the coolest person you know (probably because you are two and don't really know many people yet), did my best to ignore her. i had heard through the grapevine that your mom and i had friends in common and they wanted to hook us up, which is another way of saying to set us up on a date...your Uncle Keith on the other hand had other ideas. he decided that he would begin to push me into meeting your mom. he knew i liked her, heck i knew i loved her before she ever knew she loved me, but again that is another story. so the game began and friends began to whisper, and before too long i worked up the courage to take a chance to say hello to your mother. it was the moment i knew she was someone special. she had a great smile, she had a great sense of humor (notice i use past tense there), and most of all she and i could talk for hours. we spent that week getting to know each other and that is when i first began to fall in love with your mother. if it weren't for your Uncle Keith i may never have had that courage to talk to her in the first place. i owe him a lot in this story and that is why he was the best man in our wedding. so i know when you are old enough to read this, you will want to know why did it take until 2009 for you guys to get married...well son life takes us all down different roads and your mom and i did a lot of traveling to get back to one another, but the most important thing is that i found her again, and i have you.
i know the story is dull, and lacks details, but that is why i am writing this, to get us to talk eventually, to give you some insight into who we are as a family, and to talk to me about it when the time comes.
i titled this blog I love you son, because you are loved more than you know, and you fill our heart with joy every time you look at us. i am speaking for your mom here too, because i know she feels the same way. i look forward to writing more about life, my life, our life, and some lessons that i hope you learn and live by.
Until next time, I love you son.
Dad
i am sitting here at midnight and for the past few days i have been wondering how i wanted to say this...how could i give something that we can both look back on and laugh and share thoughts and enjoy for our lifetime. i decided that i would write you the story of me, which has become the story of you and your mom really. it was a miracle that i am even able to write this tonight. never in a million years did i think i would end up with your mother. somehow though through miracle, destiny, whatever you want to call it here we are. i have found purpose in life with the both of you. so it is with that, i will tell you the story, as best i remember it, of how your mom and i met.
it was 1998 and i had been in college for four years, the appropriate age to be leaving college, but i was just really getting started. hopefully your grandma and grandpa will be able to tell you the story, and theirs won't exactly match mine, but that is o.k. parents and their children's stories rarely ever match up. your uncle Keith, who by the way you should pay attention to, the guy has some pretty neat stuff to say, and i had joined a fraternity. i had joined before him and he was a sissy and waited longer than i, but i digress...for that is a story for another time. but anyway we were celebrating homecoming, which is another word for a weeklong party to most people in a fraternity or sorority, loosely based upon the fandom of the University of Memphis football team. well it just so happened that your mother's sorority agreed to do homecoming with us. so on the first night of the get-togethers that you have to create this massive paper float i saw your mom. she was standing talking to some of her sisters and i, being the coolest person you know (probably because you are two and don't really know many people yet), did my best to ignore her. i had heard through the grapevine that your mom and i had friends in common and they wanted to hook us up, which is another way of saying to set us up on a date...your Uncle Keith on the other hand had other ideas. he decided that he would begin to push me into meeting your mom. he knew i liked her, heck i knew i loved her before she ever knew she loved me, but again that is another story. so the game began and friends began to whisper, and before too long i worked up the courage to take a chance to say hello to your mother. it was the moment i knew she was someone special. she had a great smile, she had a great sense of humor (notice i use past tense there), and most of all she and i could talk for hours. we spent that week getting to know each other and that is when i first began to fall in love with your mother. if it weren't for your Uncle Keith i may never have had that courage to talk to her in the first place. i owe him a lot in this story and that is why he was the best man in our wedding. so i know when you are old enough to read this, you will want to know why did it take until 2009 for you guys to get married...well son life takes us all down different roads and your mom and i did a lot of traveling to get back to one another, but the most important thing is that i found her again, and i have you.
i know the story is dull, and lacks details, but that is why i am writing this, to get us to talk eventually, to give you some insight into who we are as a family, and to talk to me about it when the time comes.
i titled this blog I love you son, because you are loved more than you know, and you fill our heart with joy every time you look at us. i am speaking for your mom here too, because i know she feels the same way. i look forward to writing more about life, my life, our life, and some lessons that i hope you learn and live by.
Until next time, I love you son.
Dad
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