Topic Tuesday – A Letter to My Father

This was hard. Here is another attempt at disciplined writing. The prompt today was for me to write a letter to my father. So, here is a piece of my soul…

_________________________________________________________________________

Dear Dad,

Wow, it has been too long since we’ve done this. You know I’ve never been huge on writing letters, but I definitely thought it was time we catch up a little bit. So much has happened since the last time we talked.

For starters, I got married. She’s such a wonderful girl, Dad. She’s beautiful, funny, gifted, and incredibly compassionate and loving. She makes me so happy, and I do everything I can to make her happy, too. We met at college and fell in love (thanks again for suggesting LaGrange College… I know I never even would have considered it if you didn’t make me!). We have a little house and three pets – two cats and a dog. You’d love them. I know you were always a cat person. No kids yet, though…

Speaking of our house, I moved away from home. I live in Moncks Corner, SC, now. I’m the youth pastor at a church there, and I lead worship, too.. Michelle was the part-time children’s minister for two years, but she had to give it up when she started her master’s degree. It was just too much… We like it here, for the most part. It’s been tough finding people we can just hang out with, though. Plus, it still just feels a little strange to be living 5 hours from everything we knew and loved growing up.

Michelle and I have started getting in shape, too. Not that either of us was ever too far out of shape, but you know what I mean. We started running together. We were supposed to do our first race together this weekend, but I hurt my foot, so I won’t be able to run. Mostly we wanted to get in shape because I know we have a history of heart issues in our family. That, combined with where my body tends to hold weight (thanks for that, by the way…), put me in the higher risk category for heart troubles later in life. We figured it would be easier to get in shape and try to stay that way now than it would be to make a radical change later on in life. It’s going pretty well so far.

I guess another important development since the last time we talked is that Mom got married again. At first none of us really like the guy, John, a whole lot. His personality is pretty different from yours, and he kinda rubbed people the wrong way some. Over time, though, we’ve grown to love him. He really is a great man, very generous and caring. He’s had a pretty amazing life, and I’m glad that Mom gets to be a part of that story. That’s not to say that he’s replaced you or anything (nobody could ever do that), but Mom really loves him, and they’re good together.

Gosh, I just can’t believe it’s been almost 9 years since we’ve talked. I tell Michelle all the time how much I wish you could have met her, and vice versa. I know you two would have loved each other a lot. I miss you, Dad. Leukemia took you too soon. I’m sure things are okay where you are, though, so I know you’re not too worried about us. And I know you’ll get to meet Michelle one of these days. Hopefully not too soon, though.

I love you, Dad.

-Joseph