Father'sDaySentimentality
佚名 / Anonymous
DearLara，
AsIwritethisletter， youarenearlyoneweekoldandsoundasleepatyourmother’’sgoingtobeafewyearsbeforeyoucanreadthis， andevenlongerbeforeyouunderstandexactlywhatI’mfeeling—whichisgood， becausethenyou’llneedevenmoretimetoforgive.
Thisletterisoneofthehardestthings， I’veeverhadtowrite， sinceI’—noteventheonesIlookedupintheneighbor’sdictionary—candescribethesublimejoyandwonderIhavefeltsincewatchingyourmotherdotheequivalentofpassingAndretheGiant’sbowlingballandrealizingthatIcouldnevertakeherplace.
Andletmesayrightnow， thankGodforthataswell.
Whentheytoldmeyouwereagirl， Ifeltsoexcitedmyheartcouldhaveburst—forwhenyouhitadolescence， you’remostlyyourmother’sproblem， notmine.
WetookyournamefromLaraCroft， themaincharacterofthevideogame “TombRaider” ， youonedaywilldiscover， ， whileit’sanatomicallyimpossibleforyoutosharethatgift， atleastyou’llhavethenamegoingforyou， whichcan’thurtinjobinterviews.
ThebestwaytodescribewhatI’mfeelingrightnowis “surreal，” whichmeansIshouldlayofftheafter—dinnercocktails.I’velongwantedtobeafatherbutsomehowneverbelieveditwouldhappen， inlightofmylousydatinghistoryandpenchantsforwatching “StarTrek” andreadingcomicbooks.
Butnowyou’rehere， andaweekafteryourbirth， Istillsitforminuteswatchingyourchestriseandfall—iffornootherreasonthanit’—asyoustretchyourteeny—tinylimbs， wrinkleyourlittleface， .
Overtheyearstocome， I’msureIwillletyoudown， andthere’llbetimesyou’.
ButIwantyoutoknowthatI’malwaysgoingtobethereforyou—nomatterwhereyoushop， howyoupark， ’snotobsessive， I’myourFATHER， andIevenpromisetobeunobtrusivewhenI’mwithyouondates.(However， iftheguylaysasmuchasafingeronyou， he’sadeadman.)
Inlife， there’safewimportantthingstoknow：
’showBatman， IronMan， theWasp， andtheGoldenAgeSandmanallretaintheirmillionairestatus， -manandGreenLanternnevermadeeventheminimummonthlypayment， andthey’realwaysstrugglingjusttopaytherent.
