To My Daughters
[note: this was originally written over at Styled Bits, but since I’m moving personal stuff away, I am republishing here.]
Dear Ava Grace and Ella Cole,
You were both born on September 30th, 2009, a day that I won’t forget. I am writing this short post to the two of you to both remind me as to how important that day was to me, and to maybe even serve as a small springboard of hope for you as you grow older. Please remember that your father often fumbles for his words, and those that I will use below will be inadequate but hopefully good enough.
Upon your birth, I was given the opportunity to immediately meet you while the doctors tended to your mother. As I walked over to the tables where you tasted our atmosphere for the first time, and looked upon you, something changed. For a brief moment, I saw, in the two of you, the very essence of all that ever was, is, or will be. I didn’t see the two of you as two separate newborns, or as belonging to me, but as an expression of existence itself. Through the two of you I caught a glimpse of the transcendent, a game of hide and seek that I’ve been playing for my whole life.
The implications, for me, are profound. I will never again be the same, and have you to thank for that. I can only hope that, through fatherhood, I can show you how important that you all are.
