april 12th

to my soldier,

there are a lot of things that you need to hear and that you need to know, but they are also things that are only meant for ears older than yours. you will grow up quicker than your mother and i ever imagined and maybe then you won’t be so mad at me for leaving. i can still feel your little fists beating my thighs, as i hope you can still feel my arms around your neck, clinging tightly.
there is a war on, son, and i have been called away to try and make things right again. the world needs your papa, and i will fight tooth and nail to make sure nothing bad will ever happen to you. i do not know when i will be able to come back home, i do not know much these days; i only know that you are my beaming light and that i do not doubt for a moment that you will outglow the sun. you are now the man of the house, and you have duties, you have responsibilities. make me proud.
i am currently stationed somewhere out at sea, i think it is in the pacific because the wind blows west every morning and blows me down every night. the waves fight harder than the mortars do. water will always destroy more than fire, remember that.
and remember this: your mother is infinitely right in anything she tells you, and you ought to listen to every word she tells you. your sister is a dreamer and that means that she understands the world a lot better than i ever did. she sees things the way that they should be seen. keep close to her, do not let words or stones tear you two apart- your relationship is the only one in your whole, expanding life that will never fall beyond repair. love her intently and listen with unclasped ears, she is a dreamer after all.
i will write to you as often as i can, though sometimes the sea swallows these letters whole. she is a hungry beast untamed by the likes of me. i am alive as long as you believe me to be. you are nothing more than my pride and joy and one day you will understand the swells i am suffering to keep the storms from ever reaching you.

chin up, my soldier, your father will come as quickly as he can. mind your mother and offer to help with the yardwork, summer is coming and you know how quickly the jungle grows outside if we do not hammer it away.

you are my first thought always,

W.