to my favorite fathers

To my father, 

You helped me become the woman I am today. You've taught me many things - things I am still discovering today. As I face the job of parent in the next two months, I realize more and more the thought and immense love that went into shaping my life. The sacrifices, the anxiety and the joy. 

I'm excited to see you with your grandson. To help shape his life - teach him how to identify crops in the field, how to paint the house and properly mow a lawn. I hope he looks to you for advice when Shea and I don't have the answers. I hope he experiences the passion of a K-State/KU basketball game with his fanatical grandpa. I hope he learns the stories from your travels, understands the importance of climate change and gets it when he sees the awards hanging in your office.

Thank you for loving my mom, and loving her more as her belly grew. Thank you for rubbing her back and bringing home special treats when she was hot, tired or grouchy. Thank you for the moments before and after my birth when you spent time thinking about what makes the best kind of father. You did good, if I do say so my self.

Love, 

Your daughter

To Shea, the father-to-be,

I hope that the love you feel the first time you see your son's face is so great it feels as if your heart will explode. That everything they say is true - you never realized you could love this much.

I hope the sleepless nights, the hormonal wife, the poopy diapers and the exasperating cries feel more like a privilege than a chore.

I hope our little boy grows up to be a man like you. One that loves God. Respects, cherishes and honors his wife. Works hard. Has joy for baseball or chemistry or whatever he loves most.

I hope you stick to your convictions in the hard moments when being a dad is just plain hard. Even when he screams that he hates us or we realize the other parents are letting their kids do that.

I hope we're always a team. That the love between us makes us even better parents. And that when we're done being full-time parents, we realize our marriage is even stronger than before.

I hope that being a father is one of the biggest blessings in your life. I hope you develop a father-son bond you're proud of.

Our little guy is the luckiest. You'll do great.

Love, 

Your partner-in-crime