Love Letters

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I may have created a monster.

My daughter slowly approached me a few nights ago at the kitchen table. I arrived home late from work and sat there eating my dinner, enjoying some conversation with my wife.

Alone.

"Hey, Dad, what are you doing?"

“Just talking to your mom,” I said, well aware that something else was on her mind.

“I’ve been thinking, Dad. Could I get my own email address?”

“Do you really need one?”

“Well, all my friends have their own email and most are on facebook too.”

I waited for a moment before offering her an old, time honored classic.

"If all of your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?”

I knew the answer coming, and the truth is she had me at “hello” anyway. She didn’t even have to bat her eyelashes or snuggle up to me like she did, but it added some tasty icing to an already sweet cake.

“No, I wouldn’t Daddy, but this is different.”

I continued the inquisition, and made sure she knew I would only do it with complete access to her account. She didn’t hesitate. We then spent a few minutes together setting up her address and password. I made her send me a test email to make sure it was working and to store my address for the future. We did the same thing with her mother’s address and a couple of others as well.

All of that happened Monday night.

At 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, I was surprised to find six emails waiting for me at work. The first one said:

“Hey! How was your day? If you get the chance at work to write me back PLEASE do!"

The other five were small talk about her day at school and a request to go running together when I got home from work. She even sent me one last night at 9:15 after she was in bed, which I found this morning.

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Most of what she wrote was the sweet ramblings of an eleven (nearly twelve year old) girl who’s growing up way too fast. I could scarcely imagine, back in August of 1998, the day my daughter and I would correspond with email. In fact, I’m not even sure I knew what email was back then. It just seems so crazy, but I suppose sometimes, a little bit of insanity isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I do have to be honest, though. There is a nearly unexplained excitement I feel when opening my email and seeing a new message sent from Mary Jordan. It’s kind of like the feeling I remember years ago when hearing on the radio that schools were closed because of bad weather.

It just feels so…so…perfect.

All this electronic messaging with my daughter has created a bit of a problem, however. I just can’t bring myself to delete her emails. I know a day is coming when I’ll have to, but for now I want to enjoy this ride as long as it lasts.

Not sure if that makes me weird or normal or a little bit of both. But, I must admit I haven’t created a monster. It’s just a new frontier for a smitten dad. And, I like it and her.

A lot…

Romans 8:17 NIV:

Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ...