dearkidsfromdad

[dearkidsfromdad]

May you live in boring times.

2/10/2023

Dear Kids,

On February 6, 2023 a magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit the border of Turkey and Syria.  Since then, and as I’m typing this, over 24,000 people have been confirmed dead.  

As I think of that number, 24,000, I think of my high school football stadium.  Of the people that could fit in those seats, and then I imagine if every single one of them were dead.  It is truly a staggering loss of human life.

Over the past few days, I have watched the news as report after report of men, women, and children pulled from the rubble have trickled in.  People have been feverishly digging at the piles of rubble for their lost loved ones for days now, and the chances of more survivors is starting to dwindle close to zero.  Helpers from across the world have flown in to help those left behind to search through the rubble as they race against the clock.

While I was reading about one such incident where an infant had survived many hours beneath the rubble, I saw someone had commented “may he live in boring times.” and that struck a chord with me.

Kids, I hope that you live in boring times.  I hope that the world continues to get better, and that technology helps us to live better, but I want you to know that I don’t ever want to be digging in rubble for you. My hope is that you, like you are at this moment, stay in cute pajamas and sleep tight surrounded by those who love you.

I hope that you do extraordinary things, and meet extraordinary people.  I hope that I can help you to have great adventures, and do awesome things that are unique and make you feel alive.  You only get one chance to live on this blue marble in space, and I sincerely believe that life is to be lived.

But with all that said, I hope you live in boring times.  

I will always try to be there for you.  I promise I’ll do my best not to let you down.

Love,

Dad

[dearkidsfromdad]

Haven’t written in a while.

Dear Kids,

It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, but I had you on my mind tonight while I was driving. I want to tell you that I love you, and more than that.

You all are growing entirely too fast.  It seems like yesterday and forever that I held you as tiny infants.  Today you can almost all play entirely without my supervision.  And for the most part you can entertain yourselves with your incredible imaginations.

The other day, when one of you lost your stuffed animal you told me that I needed to go find him. I looked high and low and retrieved said animal.  When I brought it to your bedside you said “thanks dad, I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”  If there’s ever been a more challenging gauntlet thrown from daughter to father, I couldn’t tell you what it is.  My life goal is to never let you down, so thanks for that.

As you grow I worry, I suppose like all fathers do, that I’m going to let you down.  I recognize that there’s no time to teach you every lesson that I need to, and you’ll have to learn some things on your own.  But there’s a big part of me that worries I’m not doing enough to make sure that you’re getting everything you need.

I was lucky.  I had great role models growing up, I miss one of them terribly.  My grandad, your great-grandaddy was one of, if not the best, man I’ve ever known.  I think about him often and I miss his steadying influence in my life.  He taught me so many important lessons that I can’t begin to mention them all here.  Tonight I got to thinking about one lesson in particular that he taught me right at the very end.

His last words to me before I left the room were “Love you, be good.”  They are etched in my mind.  The message is incredibly simple, but just like not letting you down, the challenge is in the living them.   He communicated two things to me in crisp detail.  I knew from a lifetime of love that he loved me, and I knew from a lifetime of lessons that he wanted me to be good.  If ever there was a sermon preached that was more concise, it may only be the lesson taught in John 11:35 “Jesus Wept”

I have spent a lot of tears on my grandad.  He was a good man.  

I’m going to try and write more of these this year, and maybe next year.  Maybe I’ll share them all, maybe I won’t.  But I hope for the world for you.  I love you and your mom with my whole soul.  I hope that I can do my very best to not let you down.  

I love you kids.  Be good.

Dad

[dearkidsfromdad]

You are a man, and in this world there are good men and bad men, and it is the duty and the God given privilege of the good man to lead the bad into a life of righteousness and faith, every day is a day to better the world. I love you

[dearkidsfromdad]

[dearkidsfromdad]

The Labors Of Thor - David Wagoner

Stiff as the icicles in their beards, the Ice Kings

Sat in the great cold hall and stared at Thor

Who had lumbered this far north to stagger them

With his gifts, which (back at home) seemed scarcely human.

“Immodesty forbids,” his sideman Loki

Proclaimed throughout the preliminary bragging,

And reeled off Thor’s accomplishments, fit for Sagas

Or a seat on the bench of the gods. With a sliver of beard

An Ice King picked his teeth: “Is he a drinker?”

And Loki boasted of challengers laid out

As cold as pickled herring. The Ice King offered

A horn-cup, long as a harp’s neck, full of mead.

Thor braced himself for elbow and belly room

And tipped the cup and drank as deep as mackerel,

Then deeper, reaching down for the halibut

Till his broad belt buckled. He had quaffed one inch.

“Maybe he’s better at something else,” an Ice King

Muttered, yawning. Remembering the boulders

He’d seen Thor heave and toss in the pitch of anger,

Loki proposed a bout of lifting weights.

“You men have been humping rocks from here to there

For ages,” an Ice King said. “They cut no ice.

Lift something harder.” And he whistled out

A gray-green cat with cold, mouseholey eyes.

Thor gave it a pat, then thrust both heavy hands

Under it, stooped and heisted, heisted again,

Turned red in the face and bit his lip and heisted

From the bottom of his heart—and lifted one limp forepaw.

Now pink in the face himself, Loki said quickly

That heroes can have bad days, like bards and beggars,

But Thor of all mortals was the grossest wrestler

And would stake his demigodhood on one fall.

Seeming too bored to bother, an Ice King waved

His chilly fingers around the mead-hall, saying,

“Does anyone need some trifling exercise

Before we go glacier-calving in the morning?”

An old crone hobbled in, four-faced and gamy,

As bent in the back as any bitch of burden,

As gray as water, as feeble as an oyster.

An Ice King said, “She’s thrown some boys in her time.”

Thor would have left, insulted, but Loki whispered,

“When the word gets south, she’ll be at least an ogress.”

Thor reached out sullenly and grabbed her elbow,

But she quicksilvered him and grinned her gums.

Thor tried his patented hammerlock takedown,

But she melted away like steam from a leaky sauna.

He tried a whole Nelson; it shrank to half, to a quarter,

Then nothing. He stood there, panting at the ceiling,

“Who got me into this demigoddiness?”

As flashy as lightning, the woman belted him

With her bony fist and boomed him to one knee,

But fell to a knee herself, and pale as moonlight.

Bawling for shame, Thor left by the back door,

Refusing to be consoled by Loki’s plans

For a quick revision the Northodox Version

Of the evening’s deeds, including Thor’s translation

From vulnerable flesh and sinew into a dish

Fit for the gods and a full apotheosis

With catches and special effects by the sharpest gleemen

Available in an otherwise flat season.

He went back south, tasting his bitter lesson,

Moment by moment, for the rest of his life,

Believing himself a pushover faking greatness

Along a tawdry strain of misadventures.

Meanwhile, the Ice Kings trembled in their chairs

But not from the cold--they’d seen a man hoist high

The Great Horn-Cup that ends deep in the ocean

And lower all Seven Seas by his own stature;

They’d seen him budge the Cat of the World and heft

The pillar on one paw, the whole north corner;

They’d seen a mere man wrestle with Death herself

And match her knee for knee, grunting like thunder.

[dearkidsfromdad]

A soldier's lullaby

May your dreams bring you peace in the darkness, May you always rise over the rain. May the light from above always lead you to love, May you stay in the arms of the angels.

May you always be brave in the shadows till the sun shines upon you again. Hear this prayer in my heart and will ne'er be apart, May you stay in the arms of the angels.

May you hear every song in the forest and if ever you lose your own way; Hear my voice like a breeze whisper soft through the trees. May you stay in the arms of the angels

May you grow up to stand as a man, love with the pride of your family and name. When you lay down your head for to rest in your bed, May you stay in the arms of the angels.

[dearkidsfromdad]

You feed your horse, you feed your men, you feed yourself.

Grandpa Steve

[dearkidsfromdad]

Rule for my children, #7:

Never apologize, it's a sign of weakness. That said, don't be afraid to be the first to say you're sorry.

[dearkidsfromdad]

Rule for my children, #6:

Spend as much time as you can with your grandparents. They were cool once, and they love you.

[dearkidsfromdad]

Rule for my children, #5

Don't fight. If you have to fight; hit first and hit hard.

[dearkidsfromdad]

Rule for my children, #4:

When shaking hands, be firm, and look them in the eyes.

[dearkidsfromdad]

Rule for my children, #3:

If you can't be the strongest or the fastest, be the toughest.

[dearkidsfromdad]

Rule for my children, #2:

Treat those around you with honesty, courtesy, and respect. It will surprise you how often it is returned.

[dearkidsfromdad]

Rule for my children, #1:

Always pick the right horse for the job.

[dearkidsfromdad]

God, Give me a child

God, Give me a child who is strong like my grandfather Smart like my grandmother Honest like my father Compassionate like my mother Give me a child who is rambunctious like their mother Joyful like their Aunt Proud like their uncle Give me a child meek like Moses and courageous like David Give me a child with the fortitude of Esther And God, when you give me that sweet child, Help me to be humble like Joseph, Understanding like Jacob Wise like Jethro Proud like my brother Joyful like my sister Rambunctious like my wife Compassionate like my mother Honest like my father Smart like my grandmother Strong like my grandfather.

[dearkidsfromdad]

The older I get, the more I realize that I have done nothing to deserve how awesome my parents are.

I hope that I can be as awesome to you, as they have been to me.

[dearkidsfromdad]

Success in life is largely measured by how we forge achievement in the crucible of failure.