A Little Fatherly Advice

Cooper,

The wind hit me today and it brought with it a memory from a time that seemed just like yesterday. I blinked and five years had passed or maybe it was ten. I don't know anymore. Time seems to move faster when you hit a certain age.

This memory got me to thinking as I am oft to do. I thought about all the things I used to want but never got. Unanswered prayers. These were all those things I had regretted, my failures stored in the back of my psyche. Sometimes a person can feel like they never get to choose; you might always feel like you get your second choice or even feel like everything is given to you. You never win the big game or slay the dragon or save the princess or get the job you really want. You take what you can get and maybe it doesn't seem like that much to you.

Now... Looking back...How wrong could I have been? Had I succeeded more often in getting what I wanted what would I have for it? I don't know, but I can't imagine having lived a life without all of the twists and turns that led me to be your father. I can't imagine my world without you. So many things had to go a certain way for you to happen. A choice here or a choice there and you're not here. I look back now and I see how all of the doors opened in just a certain, perfect way as if the moon, the stars, and the sun were all perfectly aligned. I couldn't have known why at the time. It's fate.

Some advice for you little man: Don't suffer from the grass always being greener on the other side of the fence. Don't spend too much time wondering what could've been. There's a short game and a long game. It's good to win the short game, but it's much more satisfying if you win the long game. Remember the story of the Tortoise and the Hare. So many things I thought important once were just small beer.

If I have truly failed at anything in life, it was in knowing what I really wanted. Ah... but I am sure now that I have succeeded.

Love,

Dad