Dear Son - Newborn

Dear Son,

You can't read this now, of course, as you lie there wriggling and squirming in your little bed, but I hope someday you will, and that you will find something useful in your old man's words.

I want the best life has to offer for you. I want you to have every experience a little boy needs to grow up happy and strong and straight. I want you to learn how to tie your shoes, ride a bike, fly a kite, play checkers, hit a baseball, fix a car, mow the lawn, paint a house, and a thousand other things.

I want you to find a wife, have children as beautiful as you are right now, and to raise them up to be good people like you. I want you and your wife to walk hand-in-hand into your old age, and to still be in love with each other.

I want you to grow up honorable, trustworthy, and honest. I want you to be someone people respect. I want you to have a sense of duty and obligation to your family, your country, and yourself. I want you to find a purpose - a mission - and I want you to achieve it. I want everything good in life for you.

I want you to succeed everywhere I failed.

I love you son, and I will never turn that off, no matter what you do or how you turn out. You can count on that. I pray with all that is within me that you will always be healthy, happy, prosperous, and awesome!