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