Dear Scarlet

From 0 to 4—How quickly a boy can become a father

My Dearest little Scarlet monkey,

Once upon a time, there was a boy that found out he was going to be a daddy.  He was barely old enough to take care of himself, let alone a little baby that would soon be entering this world.  Me and your mommy would talk about what we would name you, if you were a boy or if you were a girl.  I can remember your mom being almost convinced that you were a boy, while I was hoping wholeheartedly, that you would be a girl.  The very idea of having a daughter was so exciting and interesting to me.  When we found out that you were a girl…wow…we could NOT believe it at all.  We made sure that they were “sure” and when they were, we could barely contain our excitement.  We knew right away that you were a Scarlet.  I don’t know how often I daydreamed about the life we would live together as a father and his daughter.  We even made a Scarlet Mii, on the Nintendo Wii.  I used to play guitar all of the time while you were in your mommy’s tummy and I’m sure you love it enough. ;)

When we brought you home, I never let you sleep in your crib.  Geez, I held you in my arms until you were asleep and then I’d fall asleep.  Looking back on it now, it probably wasn’t very safe, haha.  We had our fun, in our little house on Fulton St.  but eventually I got tired of living in a town that I knew was too small for you. 

When I left for basic training you weren’t quite sure what was going on.  I explained to you that you’d have to take care of mommy and that I wouldn’t be there in the morning to wake up with you.  You hugged me and said, “well, I wake up in the morning feeling like P.Diddy.”  That definitely made me laugh.  While I was gone mommy did a great job letting me know how much you were growing and how much you were helping her out.  Every once in a while I got to tell you that I loved you on the phone, albeit through tears.  Though I was only gone at basic for a couple months, you grew up so incredibly fast that it was almost all a blur.  I can’t tell if I’m mad at myself for not being there, or happy that you’ll be part of a bigger picture in a bigger place.  Through techschool we got to talk through FaceTime on our iPhones and I got to see you almost as much as I wanted to, granted you weren’t too busy being ornery.  I missed being there for your 3rd birthday, but I got to see it through a phone call, which for the circumstances, was good enough.  Finally, it was time to come home.  I’ve never had more butterflies for such a length of time, as when I was flying home to meet you again.  Seriously, I had them for 8 hours, I could barely stop smiling, and I could barely even eat.  I finally woke you up and I think I was probably shaking.  It felt like I was.  I credit you for helping me get through all of this nonsense.

It didn’t take long for us to pick up where we left off.  You were faster than I remember and you talked nonstop and with such clarity.  It felt like, besides how much you’d grown, that no time had passed at all. We had become best friends again, speaking our own goofball language.

We all 3 prepared for our Oklahoma adventure together and after some short time, we were off to take on the world again as a family.

And here we are.  Though you weren’t born until 7:18pm on September 7th, we are going to wake up and shower you with gifts as soon as you run into our room.  I may even wake you up with the breakfast you requested: pancakes, hashbrowns, tater tots, and freshly squeezed orange juice.