Five

Today, my eldest son, Camden, is five years old. This post has been written and re-written, section by section, about five times. I finally realized that rather than telling the reader what I have learned, I’d tell Camden directly:

Son,

I hope one day you read this and understand how much the last five years have meant to me. I was a different man before you came into this world, and I will be forever in your debt for the lessons you’ve taught me about life, as well as myself. Camden, you are such a special young man. The similarities between us are probably the reason that I learn so much from you. You are wise beyond your years. Your mind approaches things from a very familiar perspective, and your need to have things “just so” hits close to home as well.

While I never thought of myself as being selfish, I certainly was with my time and attention. You have taught me how important it is to place attention on the right things in life and how so many things that fight for your attention are not what is truly important. Being a hard worker and being passionate and knowledgable about what you do is great, but remembering those that you do it for is paramount. Seeing you transform in front of my eyes over the first five years of your life has made it crystal clear to me that if I didn’t look up, and quickly, I’d miss it in the blink of an eye. You are so patient with me, and I recognize that. Thank you for teaching me that investing in people you love is the most valuable thing you can do with your time.

Your mind and your perspective are so sharp. You see things in a very pure way, but your mind has the ability to boil down even complex situations to their most basic components. I have to believe you get this from me. I tend to overcomplicate things in my mind. I think, and re-think things that are better left at the simple, surface layer. If you read this early enough in life to be conscious of the gift and the curse an analytical mind can be, reap the rewards of the benefits, but keep things simple when they’re better that way.

I know that you will struggle with patience, especially with people. You will want to get to the end of something, often times at the expense of leaving someone behind along the way. Try to control this tendency, and learn to find joy in seeing others succeed along with you, versus being the only one at the finish line of something. I hope you never lose your ability to see the best in people, and help them see the best in themselves. In case you don’t remember (I have the recording of the ceremony if proof is needed), you were voted Most Compassionate in your K4 class. Give of yourself, but remember that your path is still the one you must walk down daily.

Master the ability to focus. Distractions are more prevalent in today’s society than ever before. There will always be a screen or interface fighting for your attention. Learn to turn them off and enjoy the calm that comes with things like reading. Reading is a way to train your mind to focus and to build things on its own. Your imagination is already so deep, so don’t let the easy satisfaction of packaged entertainment make you forget that your mind is where the real magic happens. I used to read, a lot. I hope to get back to reading more frequently, because I can directly correlate the degradation of my ability to focus on a singular task with the decrease in my reading of books.

All of the above was important, but if you take only one thing away from this letter, please act on this last section. Love your family, and do so vocally and with frequent demonstration. In the time you have been here, I’ve lost two of the people that I loved the most. Two of the people that enabled me to become the person I am, and specifically one that gave me an example of the man I strive to become. Looking back, and knowing that they wanted to hear my voice and what was going on in my life much more often than I took the initiative to call breaks my heart. I am so happy that they both got the chance to meet you, because you are the perfect image of all the love that I had, and still have, for them. There will be times in your life that you feel like no one understands you, but your family will, just give them the opportunity.

Thank you, Camden. Thank you for being you every day, and thank you for continuing to teach me how to be the best Steve I can be.

A lifetime of love and respect,

Dad

For anyone who read this open letter to my son, I hope it provoked a positive thought about your own life or the people in it.

⭥ Site Index   |   ↻ Random Post