Letters to My Girls

Spring Break 2011-"I think about you". Reminded in the last few weeks of a song I first heard probably sometime around my senior year of high school, entitled, "I think about you" by Colin Raye. Cant say that I got the meaning of the song then, well, I know I didnt. I remember thinking about it being a song simply about a guy thinking about girls and kinda confused by the eight year old in the chorus? Ran across this song again a few weeks ago and boy do I get the meaning now! Since those first days of hearing that song, my world has changed so much, in particular these last eight with you two in them. You girls are truly what I think about. His song describes a father who sees women in various places, advertising, movies, stages of life and finds himself thinking about his eight year old daughter. Growing up as a young man you think about girls differently and about being with them. Now I find myself seeing "girls" in the same places as Colin Raye and thinking about you two. Recently the following thoughts have occured. A few weeks ago, I found myself crying (for the hundreth time) at the end of the movie Armageddon with Bruce Willis saying he had to come home to keep his promise to his daughter, only to later have to through a video chat tell her he was gonna have to break that promise, and wouldnt be coming home but sending back the young boy she loved instead. I was at a funeral for a one day old boy of a pastor friend of mine and found myself thinking of you, wanting to hold you both that day. We watched the movie Tangled again this week and I found myself thinking about my little Rapunzel's and praying for the boys who will "climb into our little sanctuary" and into your lives, that their hearts would be as sacrificial and loving for you as Flynn Rider's was. I thought of the looks you would give them, the sacrifices you will make and handing you off someday, in some sense saying goodbye to life as we know it now (as mom likes to say a little to far down the road to think about now but nevertheless its where my mind goes). I thought of Jephthah in the book of Judges making a foolish vow, overcommitting himself, waging war for God, trying to prove himself "successful" to the point of having to sacrifice his own daughter. And of course, the reality series "Coming Home" on Lifetime hasnt helped (yes, I watch Lifetime), watching fathers serving our country coming home to surprise their daughters. Well, its what I think about, more than anything else, really, these days. I think about your lives, the decisive moments that will come, the decisions that will be made, who will come into your lives, and the role I play along the way. More than anything I have been thinking about what a blessing my life is because you are both in it. This week has been a joy to spend so much time with you, enjoying the simple little moments of each day with the girls I think so much of. Love ya both! Dad.