Dear Chris,
I can't begin to say how much I love you and how proud of you I am. I've watched you grow into this incredible man. I suppose every father says such things about his children. But I'm not them, i'm me. And many don't get to have the relationship that you and I share. I remember the day you were born, like it was yesterday. Your Grandma Roberta and cousin Audrey were in from California, visiting your mother and I, they were HOPING to be present to see you come into the world. But, you decided to grace us with your presence the day they had to leave. Your maternal grandparents wound up driving them back down to Indianapolis, to the airport, while your Mom and I were in the hospital, having you. When you came into the world, I remember looking at you then at your mom and saying "Look! He's got an outie, not an inny!" The nurse said "We won't know that until the umbilical chord falls off." I looked at her and said "I wasn't talking about his belly button". The nurse rolled her eyes and said "Have you folks already picked out a name?" I said "Yes. William Christopher Lindwedel the Second". She looked at me and asked "I thought your name was Wade", "It is", I replied. She then tried to tell me, "Well, I don't think you can do that, if it's not your name too". I was incredulous. "His GRANDFATHER was William Christopher Lindwedel, that's why he is 'the Second', as opposed to 'Jr'. If I wanted to name him Francis Ford Coppola the 73rd, that would be his name, and that would be what you put on his birth certificate. Are we clear?". Before you were born, this was your name. Before you were conceived, this was your name. Before I met your mother, this was your name. The day your namesake, my father, left this world to go on to the next, was the day I said "My firstborn son will carry his name". I was planning you before I knew if I would EVER have children. All of your life from the moment of your birth, I promised you that we would be BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. LONNNNNNG before the world began using the term "BFF", that was who we were. That is who we are. I've watched your first steps, heard your first words, dried your first tears. Have there been bad times? Why, yes there have. I've not always been the best father. I'm fairly open about my shortcomings and failings. Somehow, you've still loved me, even through stupid shit that I have done at times, and even when I have had low-points and failings. You are so much wiser than I was at your age, and I love that even still, you call me for advice when you need it. Sometimes, you have done so knowing you wouldn't take the advice, but you wanted to at least know my thoughts, or what possible outcomes you didn't think of. I could go on writing for hours and hours about this young man I hold in such high esteem. Thank you for being the best friend a father could ask for. Thank you for forgiving my shortcomings and loving me anyway. I want the world to know, if I haven't told them already, what you mean to me, and what a great man you have become and are still yet becoming.
Today, you turn 21. Wow! The world is yours, son. The words that Alexander the Great's father said to him, I pass on to you.
"My son ask for thyself another
Kingdom, for that which I leave
is too small for thee"
(King Philip of Macedonia - 339 B.C.)
I love you, Chris. Happy Birthday.
