Letters to My Unborn Child: A Grand Adventure

A long time from now, you’ll read this and hopefully understand. Until that day comes, this father can hopefully understand.

As you grow up, life will be full of new experiences. From your first steps and first words to your first kiss and your first love. You'll take out on these explorations in the dark, without knowing what's next...hoping everything turns out ok. A grand adventure.

Your mother and I wish every experience will be rich and rewarding for you like a cheesecake made of diamond puppies, but of course, we know that hardships are sure to come. The key is to learn from each misstep or broken road. Take the good with the bad, turn lemons into lemonade and all the other cliches. But my advice is to go a leap further.

Be relentless in your pursuit of the unknown. Fear not failure, but fear complacency.

As we grow older, we develop certain "patterns." Dates, times, places, people, tasks, errands all fall into a lockstep routine. While setting these schedules can be beneficial for a lot of things: eating, sleeping, work, Texas Longhorn football games...sometimes we develop a rut that we're not comfortable driving out of.

It's in these "patterns" that we lose our will to explore. It becomes second-nature to accept the well-worn path: in part, because it's a habit, but also because it's safe for our ego. No need to question something that already has an answer. We think "things must be done this way at this time at this place" - or else.

Please demand more from yourself than just the norm. My hope for you is to find the drive, the motivation to be something, be someone greater than expectations. But my child, don't be brash. Be aware that all risks come with consequences...and be willing to accept those consequences.

Life will take you on many journeys with different people and smells. Remember them all. Use your experiences as a guide, because like your parents' speeches, history will repeat itself. One of the toughest things to do is glance back, look forward and focus on the present all at the same time. 

In the wedding vows I made to your mother in 2011, I promised to not only to have and to hold, but to be bold. 

"My hope is that our love is never satisfied, always seeking more,

Every day to wake up with purpose, to not settle…but explore."

So as you go down life's road, always question where you're at. Greatness is out there, you just have to find it. A grand adventure.  

Love, Dad