From a VERY Special Guest Blogger (DADA!)

"Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child"

Sam,

This is my first time writing a letter like this to you (unlike your mother who has now written a few letters) so please allow me to start at the beginning. The past two years (officially now two years and 7 days) has been intense. I have felt the highest of highs and felt more pain and bouts of worry than I have ever experienced previously. But through it all, there has been one constant, and that is my absolute and undying love for you, my daughter. No one knows what the future holds, anyone that claims to know is nothing but a charlatan and you would be wise to turn and walk the other way. (One day you should ask your mother and I about the fortune telling cat on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica). That being said, there is one certainty in your life; your future will be bright and limitless.

You see, in these past two years you have taught me to rethink my measure of success. You have taught me to rethink what's important in life. You have taught me to rethink my understanding of my own personal limitations. You have taught me to rethink what I thought I knew about how the world works. Through your eyes (and through your delicious purple specs) I have seen that the journey is what matters. And in the end, it only matters where you end up on that journey, not where you started. All we can do, and indeed all we have been doing to this point, is to help you find your way on your own journey.

I titled this letter, "Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child," because as the author of that quote wisely understood, in life, we can not plan for or control everything for our children. In fact, when it comes right down to it, we can not plan for or control most everything in our our own lives. Yet what we can do as parents is help our children be the best they can be so that they are prepared for whatever lies ahead in their own journey. And believe me little girl, life has already thrown quite a lot at you, leaving no doubt in my mind that you will be prepared for any bumps, twists or turns in your path.

Your mother and I may never be able to get you to understand how much you have meant to us and how much we have learned from you. To be honest, we may never fully understand ourselves what we have learned from you let alone be able to adequately express those things to you in spoken or written words. Which is why this letter or any future letter can only ever scratch the surface of how much you have changed the world around you for the better. You see, part of the fun of being magical, and you are most definitely 100% pure magic, is that with your magic you get to change the world and the people around you. Believe me when I tell you that all the people you meet on your path will undoubtedly be affected by your magic. Just ask those that have already been touched by you. And although you may never be able to change water into wine (has anyone ever been able to do that?) you have already put your spell on me. I am spellbound by all of the big and little things you do. From the inch-stones today to the milestones of tomorrow, I am along for this magical ride.

The best I can describe it is that in your own way, you have helped prepare me for my path and allowed me to stop trying so hard to prepare the path. You have accomplished this in only two short years. Imagine what you can accomplish in a lifetime. I can, can you?

I love you lots and all over the place.

Dad