January 1, 2015 - A challenge for the Future Farabee

I am writing today on board the train from Paris to Amsterdam. My wife, Elizabeth, and I have spent the last ten days on an incredible tour of Europe (Amsterdam, Brussels, Bruges, and now the City of Lights), and we have ended up here to welcome 2015.  To say that we are fortunate/grateful/immensely lucky would be the biggest understatement of the year...so far (see what I did there...ha...because it...just...started...)

Anyway, today is the kick off of The Baby Month, where I will be doing something new each day to prepare for having a baby and being a dad.  I was a little limited with what I could do in a country where I didn't speak the language, but regardless I wanted the first thing that I did for this project to be something good, something worthwhile.  That got me thinking about my own parents, whom I feel did a pretty fantastic job of raising me.  Any positive characteristics that I have or fond memories of my childhood can be attributed to them.  Any negative traits or lack of memories of my later adolescent or early adulthood years can be attributed to far too much beer.

My parents were and are wonderful role models.  They were the kind of you people that you aspired to be, as all good parents should be.  They weren't my friends growing up because they had too important of a job to worry about being "liked" by my brother and me. Their job was to make sure we had a roof over our head.  Their job was to make sure we ate well and didn't go to sleep hungry like some sort of Dickensian ragamuffin.

And their job was to inspire my brother and me.  They made us excited to take on this grand adventure that we call life.  They encouraged us to use our imaginations and to be explorers of this strange and wonderful world.  It is this adventurous spirit that I want to pass along to my children as well.

I got to thinking that this project is not just about building things or making a fool of myself (that will come later, I assure you).  No, this project is also about getting ready for the mindset required to be a good parent.  So today, to prepare for having a child and to prepare for being the father that I want to be, I actually want to issue a challenge to my Future Farabee. Don't worry, you are more than welcome to read along too.

Dear Nugget (we haven't found out if you are a boy or girl yet, so in lieu of calling you "You" or "Baby," your mother and I have landed on Nugget...so deal with it),

Your mother and I just finished an amazing European adventure that capped off the greatest year of our lives (Come to think of it, you were there too! Look at you being a world traveler already!)

This year, your mother and I had plenty of adventures, some big and some small.  Some required traveling across vast oceans (the one that I am writing from right now comes to mind).  Some required traveling a very short distance (such as the distance we walked down the aisle as husband and wife).  Some cost a lot of money (that would be the house that you call home).  Some cost nothing at all (there's a reason why we like to take you on so many hikes through Guilford Courthouse Park). All were meaningful in some way, and all of them changed our lives in some form or another.

I hope that by the time that you are able to read and understand this, Nugget, that I will have done a good job at helping you understand this lesson.  Adventures are all around us, waiting to be taken and waiting to be lived.  Even the most mundane tasks can be done with gusto and vivaciousness.  You will only get one of these lives, Nugget (unfortunately/fortunately for you, your mother did not end up as a Creepy Cat Lady to give you nine of them).  Because of this, you've got to take risks and take chances and take an active role in the grandness that is existence.  You can't afford to sit back and let life happen to you.

And you've got to see the world.  Again, I hope that by the time you are able to appreciate this rambling that I have done enough to instill in you a love of travel.  A love of seeing new perspectives and trying new things.  A love of saying to hell with your comfort zone and your daily routine.

So, to go along with this, I have a challenge for you.  Today, your mom and I put this on a bridge in Paris near Notre Dame:

E & L
4/12/14

 

Your mission, Nugget, should you choose to accept it, is to go find this lock.  Take your brothers or sisters with you (your mom and I will work on that after you get here). Take your wife or your husband (if there's not one of those, no worries, just take yourself!)  And if the people of Paris have taken the locks down then put up one of your own.

Go to this spot and find this lock if you can and know that when your mom and I put it there, all we could think about was how much we loved each other and how hopeful we were for you and for the person that you would become.  We know that a lot of that will depend on us. I just want you to know that we'll do our best.

Here's wishing you a life filled with adventures, Future Farabee.  It'll be here waiting for you in June.

Love,
Dad