Monster,

There is this great poem that is in my head when I think about your birthday, you growing up, and me being your dad.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

The poem is all about awareness and wisdom.

One of my jobs, as your Dad, is to help you experience life's natural rhythms and to show you how to respond as they ebb and flow. I can teach you how to gather stones. I can teach you how to cast them away. But if I haven't shown you to recognize when to do each, I really haven't done my job.

For a curious and thoughtful kid who ponders questions and feels experiences as deeply as you do, this poem should be a good reminder as you grow up. Experience things. Feel and share emotions. Tell and listen to great stories. Know that hard work is just as rewarding as hard play. Laugh and cry. Stand up for yourself, but use your strength to defend others. I want you to live the full spectrum of life from inconsolable sorrow to uncontrollable laughter.

Today, you're 10...and if the next 10 years go as fast as the last... tomorrow you'll be 20.

So, let's do all that together while we can. Let's spend the next 10 years learning to recognize what life is giving us at the moment and then how to make the most of that moment together.

Love you Monster,

Your Dad

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If you're wondering what the title of the blog is all about.... Monster is the nickname we gave Seth when he was born. Amelia was Peanut. Ian was Monkey.