Letter to Dad

Dear Dad,
I'm writing to you as part of your birthday present. You're getting 70 different gifts. One to represent every year you've been on this earth. This letter will just be one of them.

I'm really glad that we are all spending this Christmas together. If there's one thing that I've re-learned over the last year it is that family is important. You've always been there for me but this last year more than most I've really appreciated knowing that you're there. As an adult with my own family to support and take care of I often think back to when I was growing up. I know you didn't have the easiest of roads. Of course that in itself isn't that unusual. But what you did with what you had is one of the things that has always inspired me. I often wonder if I could have left home and joined the Airforce at 17 years old. Or if I could have made all those cross-country trips with the pregnant wife and the crazy weather. I'm pretty sure I would have had trouble with the snow in Minnesota and having to plug-in my car engine in Alaska. These are all some of my very favorite stories.

When I think of all these things that you did I realize that because you faced them and overcame them, I was given an example to follow. The times in my life that I've come up against challenges that I didn't know how I'd get through, I always had a picture of bravery and strength to look back on would give me a hope that I could make it through. I can think of no better gift that you could have given a little boy who really needed guidance. I know you weren't able to be around as much as you liked. But you always made the effort to be there even when others didn't want to let you.

I've learned that life seldom follows the path that we think it should or hoped it would. So, I'm glad you taught me through example how to make the best of what comes our way. It's a lesson that I hope to pass on to my girls.

You may never know the impact that you've had on my life and by extension the lives of my wife and kids. I suppose none of us ever get to know those sorts of things. But I want you to know that it's significant and I'm so very proud to be your son.

So, you're 70 and I'm about to be 40. I'd say we've got a good 10 to 15 years at least of golf and memories to build. And I can't wait to enjoy it with you. So you better come out and visit us in Jackson.

Love,
Your third born son
Arron