note: This is something I read on another blog and it says everything that my wife and I’ve always thought. I just changed some of the wording to fit our kids.

You both are getting to the age where your going to be starting to go through the many changes in your lives, but your mom and I wanted to revisit the very first thing we said to you just days after you were born.

There is so much we want to tell you that we think is important. Fortunately, we will have a lifetime to cover that ground. But if there can be highlights to what I want to say, they will be this: we love you. We have from the first moment we saw you.

You have been born in uncertain times, just the same as we were. And as our parents believed having us was worth the risk, so your mother and I hold out the same hope for the future in which you will live. And just as our parents and family protected us, so we will protect you. As we’ve learned the nature of our own strengths, so we know you will come to appreciate and cultivate yours.

What field of study you choose to pursue; what type of career you seek; what manner of political beliefs you embrace; all are irrelevant to me, for we know that — no matter what — we will be very proud of you both. Our only wish for you is that you grow up happy, healthy, secure, and embraced by the love of a good partner and many steadfast friends.

It’s said that by the time a man realizes his father was right, he usually has a son or daughter who thinks he’s wrong. There will be many times you will think we’re wrong, but know that everything your mother and I do is to help you become the truly great man you are going to be.

Your Loving Parents