Love letter

Many years ago, I don't remember exactly when, maybe when I was in high school, I received a love letter from my Dad. He didn't write it, he found it somewhere, but it was special to me just the same. I wanted to share it with you. To any Dads out there reading this (or Moms who want to encourage those Dads), feel free to share this with your precious Princess too!


Dear Daughter,

I tiptoed into your room tonight and I looked down at you smiling in your sleep. And I thought, "How very much like Sleeping Beauty my little girl is."

You know, when I tuck you in at night I never know how old you will be when you awaken.

One evening you'll crawl on your dad's lap and throw your arms around his neck. The next morning you'll be too grown up for that sort of thing. You're so quickly approaching that awkward age. You're too young to drive the car, yet too old to be carried into the house half asleep on Dad's shoulders.

I have a secret that I've never told you, Sleeping Beauty. You're going on a very exciting trip. You'll travel from yesterday all the way into tomorrow. Oh, it's a rapid journey. You'll travel light, you'll leave behind your measles, mumps, freckles, bumps, bubble gum...and me.

Now, I promise not to feel too hurt when you discover that the world is more important than your dad's lap.

Yesterday you were blue-jeaned and pig-tailed. Did you know you were the neighbourhood's best tree-climber? Tomorrow you'll be blue-organied and pony-tailed. You'll view the world from a loftier perch: a pair of high-heeled shoes.

Yesterday you could mend a doll's broken leg with a hug. Tomorrow you'll be able to break a young man's heart with a single kiss. Yesterday you could get lost one aisle from me in the supermarket; and now I have to worry about losing you in another aisle to some strange man.

You see, just at the point when your growing pains stop, mine begin.

Yesterday, you were kind of a pain in the neck when you were around. Tomorrow you'll be an ache in my heart when you're not.

Tomorrow you'll lay aside your skipping rope and you'll tie up the phone lines. And that little boy that used to push you in the mud, well, he'll fight just to sit out a dance with you.

The clock upstairs is saving its brightest stars and the sun is waiting with its shiniest day. I can't expect you'll live in a dollhouse forever. Sooner or later, the butterfly sheds its cocoon. The smallest bird must try its wings.

But when you grow up and out of my arms, when you finally get too big for my shirts, I'll still remember how you used to scatter dust and dolls in practically every room of our house. But you spread a lot of sunshine, too. The dust has settled, and your mom has picked up the dolls. But the sunshine will always fill the corners of our hearts.

So, here I am, talking to you while you are asleep. Because if you saw this look on my face, you'd laugh.

And if I spoke with this lump in my throat, I'd cry.

You see, honey, when I looked at you tonight, you were a Sleeping Beauty.

I tiptoed over and I kissed you. You didn't wake up, and I knew you wouldn't because according to the legend only the handsome Prince Charming can open your eyes and, you see, I'm just the father of the future bride.

So, sleep pretty thing.

Tomorrow you'll awaken and be a young lady. And you won't even realize that you've changed courses in the middle of a dream.

Ah, but you might notice just a little change in me. I look a little different somehow, a little sadder, a little wiser, but a whole lot richer. Because tonight I kissed a princess.

And I feel like a King.