Today is a good day to tell you that you are the type of daughter, the type of child, that makes being a father an incredibly fulfilling journey. When I was a young boy, and my mother got frustrated because she didn’t know how to get me to behave better, she used to shout at me, “I hope someday you have a child just like you, and then you’ll know. . .” So now life has come full circle and I say to you, I hope someday you have a child just like you and then you will know that indescribable feeling of pride and purpose, that feeling of joy and gratification, a child can give you.
Becoming a person is a complicated process, and often it’s more struggle than success, but I marvel as I watch you becoming such an incredible person, a person anyone would admire, and you’re just getting warmed up. I’ve had to work hard to get to this point in my life where my personal and professional reputation means something that I can be really proud of. And while I’m sometimes called complimentary things (mostly exaggerations), I want you to know that, above all else, one of the greatest things I can ever be called is “Rachel’s Dad”. You are a gift to me and a gift to the world.
I love you Rachie. Happy birthday.
I included a few items, two that meant a lot to me when I wrote them for your graduation (but at the time there was so much going on you may not have been able to fully absorb them). I was reminded about these when I thought today about how proud I am to be called Rachel’s Dad. The third item is new, a photo montage of the incredibly fulfilling journey of being your father.
—Dad
