"Dear Daughter"

Dear Daughter,
Today is your birthday.  As with all my children, I can still remember what I was doing on the day you were born.  I was stationed in Korea, serving as a police instructor.  I had just finished teaching a class when I received telephone and telegraph notification of your birth.

I sat down on my break and wrote you a letter.  You've have told me that you still have it.  I cannot remember everything I said in that letter.  I do remember telling you that I loved you and cherished you, and spoke somewhat of what the world was like at your birth.

You are now seven years older than I was when I wrote that letter.  You have grown from sandy-haired, quick to learn,  toddler to a grown woman with husband and children of your own.  Your evolution has been pleasing to see and, for a parent, that's reward enough.

When I now think of you, daughter, it is the fine and graceful adult I see, but so much more.  I can see faint but glorious similar physical traits of my mother, and since she's gone, how magical it is to have a little of my mother left for me to love.  I see a woman who loves her children very much and devotes much of herself to their happiness.  I see a woman whose talents are impressive; intelligence, good sense of humor, an intuitive nature, artistic and blessed with a talent for writing (which pleases me greatly) and a life-long curiosity for learning new things.

So, it is the you of today I see.  But when I wish to,  I can gather images of the past into a bouquet of memories and see a little girl running on a Hawaiian beach, or a sandy-haired sun-baked toddler, in bright sun dress, never a half step away from mommy, or plum-lipped little girl plodding to school through snow banks in North Dakota, or giving me goose bumps as you performed in a school talent show. 

I hope this day is special, daughter.  You deserve it.  The world has changed so much since the day you were born and we have all gotten older.  If ages were seasons, you'd be in the "summer" of your life now, the changing winds of "spring" having ebbed.  Now marks the time for spreading your wings and basking in the warmth of the sun.  You have the golden days to glory in before the calmness and peace that is Autumn arrives.

Happy Birthday daughter,

Love, Dad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ehSXLNwRYA  We give our children all we have....and leave the rest to God.