Happy Father's Day: to my son

Ayden,

You are incredibly young right now and have no idea how awesomely lucky you are to have a man like your father in your life. Right now, you are "Mommy's little boy", but later, when you are older, you will be Daddy's boy. You will be excited to go fishing, go hunting, go hiking, go to Horseshoe, and just to hang out with him on the couch. You will want to be with him, to talk to him and to learn everything you can from him. You will admire him and mimic him. I'll catch you shaving in the mirror next to him. I'll see you look at him with respect and love and I'll know then that you are your daddy's son.

You will also be mad at him sometimes because he won't let you get away with what you think you should be able to get away with. You'll be angry because he's grounded you or disciplined you in some way. You will think he is being unfair and that he's forgotten what it's like to be a teenager. You'll probably yell and roll your eyes. You may even tell me about how he's just old fashioned and that he doesn't get it.

And then you'll get older. He'll give you advice when you ask him. He'll joke with you about those times that you were doing something "stupid" and he caught you- which of course led to your grounding. You'll share a beer and talk about stories from college. He'll be excited to see you and talk with you. He'll want to be with you and I'll see him look at you with respect and love because he knows that you are your daddy's son.

Then one day, you'll get married and have your own children. At that point, I'll get to sit back and enjoy watching this happen with you. At that moment, you'll understand how much your father has done for you and our family. The same way that I know how much my father did for me.

So throughout your life, please remember that although you will enjoy time with dad and you'll be so angry you'll scream at him, he loves you more than you understand right now. Just like our fathers did for us. And just like you'll do for your children some day.

Thank you to the amazing men in my life. You've shown me what real men are and I'm so glad my son will have someone to look up to as he grows into the man we all want him to be. 

To Pappy Bishop, Pappy Heckman, Daddy, Pop Austin, and Noah: Thank you for being amazing male figures in my life. I look up to you all.

To Poppy Tompkins and Grandpop Austin- I so wish I could have met you. The stories are just as amazing as I'm sure you were. I'll get to meet you someday.