My email to you from June 15, 2013

Here is my letter to you from June 15, 2013, in case you do not receive it.

Hi Kieran,

How are you today? I am doing fine, though I miss you very much! It was so nice to receive your email on Monday and catch up on what you were doing.

I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying summer school. Does it go through August? Do you get some time off from school to enjoy summer vacation? Which of your friends are going to summer school with you?

I bet seeing the dinosaurs was a lot of fun! The science museum in St. Paul has a good collection of them. Which dinosaur was your favorite? My favorite dinosaur is the Troodon. It walked on two legs like a bird and had the biggest brain of all of the dinosaurs – and that still was only as large as a chicken’s brain! Some scientists think the Troodon may have had feathers.

The Twins game sounds fun as well! What team did they play? Who won (Hopefully yours!)? My two favorite baseball teams are not doing very well this season – the Dodgers are in last place and the Brewers are in fourth place! Maybe they’ll get things turned around, but usually by the end of June if a team isn’t in second or first place, the odds are against them going to the playoffs. Hopefully next year they’ll do better!

 

I’m so proud that you’ve learned to ride a bicycle! What color is your bike? When I was a little boy, we used to put playing cards in the spokes of our bicycle wheel so that when we cruised down the street it made this neat thwap, thwap, thwap! sound. Maybe you could send a picture of you on your bike.

I bet you had lots of fun at the farm. Did you get to feed any animals? Where was the farm at? Grandma and Grandpa Bignell no longer have animals on their farm, but when they did, there were cows, pigs and chickens. And of course, they had dogs and lots and lots of cats.

Tomorrow is a big day – it’s Father’s Day! This year to celebrate Father’s Day, I am reading essays at a book store in Stillwater about fatherhood and what a great son you are! What will you be doing for Father’s Day this year? Friday (yesterday) also was a holiday – Flag Day, in which we honor an important symbol of our country and all that it stands for. Did you notice a lot of American flags out yesterday? Traditionally people hang flags from their house on Flag Day. Did you hang one from your house?

Next Friday is the first day of summer – and also the 21^st when we get to see one another again! That’s just six days away! I can’t wait to see you then!

Be good in summer school, and I’ll see you on Friday! I definitely will brings the “Star Trek” stuff! I miss and love you very much!

Love,

Dad

Fathers Day 2012, RIP

Unfortunatley, we weren't allowed to spend Father's Day with one another today. This is the second of five Father's Days in your life in which we were denied that; the other time was in June 2008 when your mother took you away the first time from me and the two of you lived with Grandma and Grandpa Bignell (my parents). At least you got to see your real grandfather that day.

We spent Father's Day 2011 at Disneyland. You participated in the Jedi Academy, we rode some of the rides in Fantasyland, went into Tarzan's Treehouse, and skipped on over to California Adventure top watch the Green Army Men band. We also got to watch a Beatles tribute band, Paperback Writer, perform at Downtown Disney. It truly was a great day; the only thing sad about it was that I had to bring you back to your mother's that evening, and for me the drive back to San Diego was unbearably long and lonely, as they always were.

I have since learned that Paperback Writer played at Downtown Disney on Father's Day 2012. Oh how I wish I could have taken you and Jane there so we could have watched it together as a family!

Rest assurred, Kieran, I am working night and day to be able to see you  again soon. Hopefully, we will get to spend Father's Day 2013 with one another. We'll be a long way from Disneyland, but I will find something fun for us, guaranteed!

Father's advice to son: It's ok to disagree

I don't know why, but for some reason I though this weekend was Father's Day, Kieran; it's actually next weekend on June 17. On the plus side, that means there's hope we'll be together for Father's Day 2012.

As I think back to my own father, I must say that my four biggest mistakes in life were decisions I made to contrary to his advice (The fifth biggest mistake I made was contrary to my mother's advice, but that's another holiday.). In my pride, I ignored my father's experiences and breadth of years observing what had occurred to others. To my youthful way of thinking, his advice often didn't make sense, running counter to rationality and to the heart. I suppose every boy at one time or another thinks this of his father; it's part of growing up and establishing your identity as your own man.

But let me tell you a story that I often repeat to others (and stole from Mark Twain): When I was 16, my old man was the dumbest person in the world. But then I went off to college, got married, became a father myself. And every year when I'd come home, I'd noticed that my father had got smarter and smarter, and right now he's damn near as smart as me. I'm really proud of how far he's come.

I'm not saying you always should follow your father's advice; it is a son's prerogative to do what he feels is best. And should you decide to one day not follow my advice, you should know that I will emulate my father's behavior when I did the same to him: I will not hold it against you and still will help and accept you, as my love for you is unconditional.

What I had planned for us on Father's Day

Father's Day is tomorrow (at least as I write this), and I've missed another weekend with you. More than a month ago, before you'd been taken from me, I'd planned a fun weekend for us going to the Thunder on the Lot in Lancaster, Calif. (the link is to photos of when we attended the event in 2010) and to the JPL Open House in Pasadena, Calif. (the link is to photos of when we attended the event in 2010).

There's a neat photo of us at JPL in which our picture was taken with an infrared camera and another one that is a 3D picture of us "on" Mars (at upper right)! At the Thunder on the Lot, you fell in love with going through RVs and went over and over on this fun house obstacle course - I was surprised you had so much energy (You didn't when you were done with it!).

At least we got to go to those events when we were together. Maybe once you find me and we're together again, we can go once more. I love and miss you, Kieran!