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Dear Jack: A Dad’s Letter to His Son on His 12th Birthday

12 years old!

Dear Jack,

It was exactly 12 years ago today that I officially became a parent for the first time, when you were born.

My immediate thought this morning was, “I have a 12 year-old son… does that make me old?”

Years from now, when I think back to you turning 12, I am going to remember how badly you wanted a dog.

And as much as I wish I had it in me to let you get a dog, I also know that our family is not at a place in life where we are ready for that kind of responsibility.

(It would ultimately be my dog; as I’m the only one in our house who is virtually always home.)

I know I disappointed you in that decision, but without even trying, I quickly gained your favor again.

For the past 2 and a half years, ever since the Covid Shutdown, I have been working with you to use a bow and arrow, as well as your Red Ryder BB gun. You have remained passionate and committed to improving your marksmanship.

When you mentioned that you would like a BB pistol, let’s just say it was undeniable that idea would have been immediately “shot down”, had I not vouched for you.

You have already been extremely careful and responsible in regards to handling your bow and your BB gun rifle ever since I began training you.

So while getting a dog would have been too much responsibility, you gladly settled for a slightly more powerful version of your Red Ryder BB gun.

To me, your new BB pistol is the perfect symbolic gift for your on your 12th birthday, the final year bridging childhood and your teen years.

I am so proud of you. I always am.

And as much as it has been an honor to raise you so far, I very much look forward to helping you grow into a man in the years coming up ahead.

 

Love,

Daddy

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1st Annual Great Smoky Mountains Father-Son Jeep Trip 2022

This Labor Day Weekend, my dad and I decided to take my Jeep across the Foothills Parkway in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

If I was an Enneagram 3, I would have been stressed out by trying to cram in the nearly dozen items I planned for our itinerary. Instead, I am an Enneagram 6; meaning I overplanned and overprepared, but I am happy to just accomplish some of the tasks on the list.

So we ended up doing 3 of the 11 items: We found and drove across the entire Foothills Parkway. We stopped for dinner at a true German restaurant. And we stayed overnight in an RV.

It’s important to my wife that we stay in a nice place anytime we travel. But personally, I’d be happy staying at a Motel 6.

Even though she wasn’t even going on the trip, she talked me into staying an an Airbnb RV; since it was the same price as the cheapest motel she could find.

It’s funny because I had just recently looked back on the lyrics to a song I wrote 4 years ago, called “Fort Payne, Alabama“, which sort of predicted this:

“If you called me Mother Nature’s son, I’d take it as a compliment – I’d trade a Lexus for an RV, a mansion for a tent.”

I’ve accepted that in life, things seldom work out the way you plan them. So you plan ahead- and then you just wing it, when it doesn’t go as planned.

Clearly, that is evidenced by the fact we didn’t get around to visiting the majority of the stops on our trip; including Top of the World, Tennessee.

But fundamentally, the only thing that mattered is that we had a fun adventure together. And that’s exactly what we did.

I suppose for next year, we shall try again to find and visit the mysterious town of Top of the World, Tennessee.

It had served as the reference point for us finding the very elusive start of the Foothills Parkway.

Plenty more left to explore based on this year’s agenda!

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Dear Jack: An Easter Egg “Hunt” to a 10 Year-Old Boy

10 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

As a nearly 10 and a half year-old 4th grader, you’re technically a preteen. That’s how I see you at this point.

And this past Easter weekend, I noticed how you were one of the oldest the church egg hunt at Nonna’s and Papa’s.

For you, the egg hunt meant an emphasis on the word hunt.

You definitely scored big when it came to your candy collection.

Once it was over, you began a very business-minded candy trade ring.

I even heard you convince a friend to give you the dollar that received in one egg, in exchange for a candy bar you traded them.

Sounds about right!

Love,

Daddy

 

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Dear Jack: I’ve Been Writing You Letters Every Week for Over 10 Years, But You’re Not Even 10 Years Old Yet…

9 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack,

It was May 2010 that I decided to start writing you at least one letter every week, to serve as a thumbnail of what was going on in your life that week, or at least what was going on in my head as your dad that week.

I should point out that in May 2010, you weren’t born yet. Instead, that was the month that Mommy and I found out we were going to be having a baby.

You weren’t born until November. So for over a decade, I have been creating and growing this collection of journal entries to document each week of your life.

I have told you about it. You are aware I do this.

But later, when you are older, I think you will truly be able to appreciate having an archive of your own life, written by your dad.

Love,

Daddy

 

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Dear Holly: Mommy Painted Your Nails for the 1st Time

2 years, 9 months.

Dear Holly,

All last week, you kept asking Mommy: “We paint my fingers and my toes this weekend?”

There was much anticipation for this event.

So Sunday afternoon, before you and your brother watched a movie with Mommy, she took you to the bathroom floor where she carefully painted each of your fingernails and toenails.

Needless to say, you were so proud to have Mommy do this for you.

I wasn’t surprised at all when I dropped you off at school on Monday and the first thing you did when you saw your teacher, Mrs. Kim, was to display your fingers and proclaim:

“Look! Mommy painted my nails!”

Yeah, you are such a little girl.

Love,

Daddy