Don't get me wrong, I've envisioned watching you score the winning touchdown from the stands and I'm well aware of the natural tendency to attach visions of your future success with my status as a father. Having said that, there is a quote that I want to be one of the driving forces in how you are raised:
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” Martin Luther King
There will be no shortage of societal pressure that will seek to press you into a predetermined mold. There will be no shortage of voices that strive to wrap the status attached to what you do with your self-worth. You will undoubtedly grow up facing suggestions that attainment at any cost is a virtue. It is my sincere hope however that you will learn to recognize that it is not "what" you do, but "how" you do it that is most important.
Your mom and I spend part of this weekend in Kansas City with the Abbott's and saw Sufjan Stevens in concert. We had a great time and enjoyed the concert, but missed you. Sufjan will no doubt be the soundtrack to a great deal of your childhood. You stayed with Oma who has been in Jefferson City for around a month, and from what we hear you had a lot of fun.
And before I forget, at some point in the coming years, you are grounded. I brought you downstairs a few days ago in my shorts and while looking at my stomach, you said "ball". . . "ball". I just don't want their to be any confusion when you think I grounded you out of nowhere.
You have begun to frequently say a very distinct (and drawn out) uh-oh. This usually follows something you do intentionally like throwing a toy behind the couch.
While you have always had a natural ability to break your mom and I down with your cry and "pitiful face", you have recently taken this to a whole different realm. It's as if somehow in your short life, you have tapped into the heart of human misery and sadness and found a way to capture it in your voice and facial expressions. I don't ever take you outside before your first nap. I did today.
Love,
Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment