Sealed envelope says " For Austin -To be opened on his wedding day"
December 25, 2009
Dear Austin:
Welcome into this crazy world!
As I write this letter you are, of course, only 12 days old, but I thought it might be meaningful for you to some day know just what your dad was thinking about you and our future together so shortly after the day you were born. Naturally, I do realize that you won't be reading this for some time now. For one thing, you won't learn to read for a few more years yet (although you sure seem to be extremely bright and alert to your mother and me so far !) and for another thing I have placed this letter in an envelope to be given to you on your wedding day. You should understand that I have every intention to be there to deliver it personally, but since nothing is certain in this old world, I am taking no chances with making sure that some day you know what the day of your birth meant to me!
In fact, Austin, that is basically what I want to say to you here and to convey to you clearly on the day of your marriage. Nothing is certain in life. It is just one surprise after another (mostly good, some a bit less so) and when you take the step of permanently joining your life to another – as you are doing on this, your wedding day – then you should know that the joy more than doubles, but the unexpected portion more than triples!
And yet, that is what gives me such confidence and courage to face my new and overwhelming task of raising you to be all you deserve and are surely meant to be in life. It is knowing that the love I have for you today is all that really matters. I have a son and everything else in my life is secondary now.
So while I have no misunderstandings about how challenging our next twenty years or so will be together, I am not concerned for your future – our future – in the slightest degree. As I already mentioned, I shall expect nothing but surprise and astonishment at what unfolds for us both, but you have brought a certainty into my own life that I did not have before. It is the assurance that I will always feel for you as I do today. Nothing within my understanding of existence could ever change the love and affection that I hold for you as I write this letter to a (probably all too soon) full grown Austin. Nothing. And it is a certainty that brings me more joy than I am able to communicate.
So congratulations on your wedding day. I am sure your bride is a perfect choice for you (since we presume we will have picked her out for you ourselves as your mother and I have already discussed!) and that you are now feeling the way I am feeling. With a love so deep for another person that the unending surprises can only bring more joy!
Love you,
Dad