a story for my kids, about their dadda

Dear Grey & Gem,
I'd like to tell you a little story.  It's a story about your Dadda.  When Dadda was a young boy, he was a sports superboy.  He played baseball, football, golf, even volleyball, but he liked playing basketball the best.  He played basketball all through high school and when you get older and you can read our last name, we'll take you to our school's gym and show you Dadda's name hanging on the wall.  Then he went to college and played more basketball, that was where he met your Uncle Jonny; they played basketball together.  Greyson, you told me the other day that you liked Dadda's black basketball; the one in our office in the case.  I told you he got that for trying his best.  If you always try your best, you can earn cool stuff like black basketballs too.

Some people still remember Dadda as a basketball superboy.  There are newspapers of Dadda playing his old games that are hanging in a restaurant in town.   And just the other day when we were buying our new screen door, one of the workers used to be a referee and he recognized Dadda and said, "I remember you, you're the Ace."  It's important to always try your best, but you have to be nice too.  That's what Dadda always does, that's why people always smile when they talk with him.

Now that Dadda's big, he doesn't have as much time to play his favorite game because he has to go to work, and fix our house, and be your Dadda, and be with me.  But sometimes he still gets to play.  Dadda got to play in a local basketball game a few weeks ago.  We all went to watch him play with his old friends.  He huffed and puffed a little more than he used to and he missed a couple more shots than he used to, but he still played great because he tried his best and he was nice to the other team and the referees.  And we were proud of him.

That night, we packed you both up in your car seats after the game and while we were driving home, Dadda said, "you know, in all the times I was proud playing basketball games before, I was the most proud I've ever been tonight because my kids were there to see me play."

Grey and Gem, your Dadda might not be a basketball superboy anymore, but you should know he's a Superman.  And we're the luckiest family of all because we are his.

love you forever,
mum


happy father's day, to my kids' superman dadda.
thank you for making my dreams come true, b.