Carys Comma

My Daughter,

Tonight as I held you, you looked at me with the oddest look upon your beautiful face. It was almost inquisitive, as if you were looking at me wondering "What sort of world have you brought me to?"

I must admit, I'm not sure of the answer. Except, I think that this world is what we make of it, and I think that it is good.


Dad

Carys Comma

Dasein

My Daughter,

Of late I have been perusing the writing of a philosopher named Martin Heidegger. I don't understand him. I don't understand much of the words and thoughts penned by the great thinkers. Your father is a simple man. I was raised in Texas rice fields and Michigan swamps.

I have never seen a library that didn't make me pause.

You may never be a book person, and that is okay. I can't help but hope that you will be. I hope one day you can come bounding into my sight reveling in the word-wrought flame of some story or thought. I hope you tell me all about it. But, please know, that as you speak, I won't hear a word you say. For you will be so beautiful and alive that your words will become a mere pretext for your rapturous presence.

Maybe you'll read Hemingway, or Rand. Maybe you'll read the novels of your mother. Maybe you'll read Heidegger.

This Heidegger fellow seems to think that life is less authentic if it is lived without the presence of inescapable end: death. Death is that unwanted companion. I won't mislead you, he is no welcome guest in my life. Yes, I know the dead in Christ shall rise first, but I still don't wish to be among them.

Instead, I prefer to be with you, savoring every moment of a life I love.

The philosopher is right, of course. The moments that pass, pass quickly, and every one that passes brings us closer to the dust of our emanation. So, heed the philosopher, my dear. Grasp with your mind this simple fact: life will not last forever. Cherish every moment, and be grateful for the time that you are given. In doing so, you just might find who you really are.

If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life - and only then will I be free to become myself.

- Martin Heidegger

Keelie Comma

My Keelie,

You are amazing embodied. How you can be so much, so easily astounds me.

I work hard to provide for our little family. Yet, all the while I am doing it, I know you could do it so much better. But, even if you were the primary financial source for our family, I can think of no greater parent. There has never been a better, more loving mother.

There is so much grace and life within you. I bask in your presence. I stand in awe of the reality I find myself in: that one so glorious glides beautiful through my constant thoughts.

You are a dream to me still.

Caedmon Comma

My Son,

At night, I hear them whispering dark hushes amidst the shadows and the lies. They are the demon voices that have haunted me since the beginnings of my nights. Images of you and your mother and baby sister are thrust before my eyes and I am told...

"Corey, you have failed them all, failed them all..."

They start with whispers, and then crescendo into a clamor of shouted accusations. They are the voices of bony fingers, pointed in condemnation.

Their voices soon go raw. They need continual lubrication to continue their drivel. Yet, their thirst is only slated by our demise. Or, at least, our belief in our own demise.

Don't listen to them, son; don't listen to a word they say. By ignoring them, you will be brave - braver than your father ever was. For I listen to their dark hushes every night, while I sit in the shadows and the lies.

Dada

image source: deviant art

Carys Comma

When you are at the point in your life where you are able to read this, it will already be abundantly clear to you that I know very little about raising a daughter. You see, I have had relatively little experience with ladies. I was raised by my single dad along with my two brothers (no sisters).

As I write this, you have only been with us a few days, but every time I look into your beautiful eyes, I am humbled by the task before me: to raise a baby girl into a young lady. I am hoping your mother can smooth my awkward efforts.

Help me to love you well, Carys. Forgive me when my ignorance clouds your Way.

Dada

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