A Letter to My Son

Dear Hudson,

I just wanted to tell you how proud I am of you.  You’ve shown me that you have the foundation for success and you probably don’t even know it.

The last three winters we have gone to the ice-skating rink.  Every year by the time we got there, you were too afraid to ice skate.  But not this year.  This year you announced that you were 5 and that you would try it.  You were still afraid.  You clung to our hands but you did it.  With every lap you got braver.  You got nervous when you started to fall, but you kept going.

Then we started you in swim lessons.  You screamed and cried the first three times.  Despite your fear you did everything you were asked.  You were afraid to put your head in the water.  You were afraid to get your ears wet.  First, you put just one ear in the water.  Then both for just a second.  Then you went completely under the water.  You swam with just the noodle and you even jumped in the pool.  You did all of this despite the fact that you were terrified.

And I know it ain’t easy.  Trust me, I know.  I wish I wouldn’t have passed on my anxiety to you, but that’s the way it is.  Sorry kid.  I know you won’t use it as an excuse.  I know you will continue to meet your goals one tiny step at time with the perseverance to see it through until the end.

Because success doesn’t come through blasting through each hurdle with guts and glory.  Sure there will always be that freakishly talented kid that’s a violin prodigy at four or the kid who makes 25 touchdowns in one game, but that’s not how it works for most of us.  The success comes through chiseling away at that next goal, one tiny bit at a time.  And sometimes we fail.  That’s alright.  Don’t let a little failure stop you.   Because it’s only failure if you don’t learn something from it.

I know you will continue to learn and overcome because I’ve seen you do it.  One tiny step and one ear at a time.  So chisel away my son.  If your chisel breaks I promise I’ll be there with a new one.