13 years, 10 months.

Dear Jack,

During your first week of school here in Alabama, you were assigned a project that told your classmates more about you.

One of the specific items you included on your family crest was family traditions.

I can definitely appreciate you saying that. As your parents, it has always been important to us to focus on fun activities for our family.

And some of those family activities end up becoming family traditions.

This past Saturday, Mommy and I had the entire morning to ourselves, since you and your sister stayed the night at Nonna and Papa’s house.

We legitimately had fun working on the yard. In doing so, we discovered a fire pit and a set of Adirondack chairs left behind by the previous owners.

After seeing the way Mommy set them up nicely in our yard while I was mowing the lawn, I said, “You know what sounds really good to me right now? S’mores.”

So Sunday after church, we made a quick trip to the store to pick up everything we needed for that night after the sun started going down.

I suppose it’s official that our family motto since settling in here in Alabama is “Make life meaningful and create beautiful experiences.”

For me, at least, having a new family tradition of “Sunday Night S’mores” would definitely qualify for that.

Love,

Daddy