I Know What They Meant To Me But What Did I Mean To Them: Letter From Dad 1980

Going through and trying to rid lot of saved "stuff" I came across this letter that I had forgotten my dad gave me a few months before I got married.   Seeing the typewritten letter and the few places that are "corrected" opens up fond memories of seeing my dad at the old manual typewriter at his desk. He was 74 years old (I was 23 years old) when he wrote this to me.  Reading it now is such a treasure.

My dad, John Wheaton Lynch, was 50 years old when I was born.  He was born August 6, 1906.  In high school everyone always assumed my parents were my grandparents.  Then it seemed difficult and maybe a little odd.  Now I look back and feel as if I was privy to living and learning in a household of an era gone by.

As I read this letter the gratitude in my heart wells up for having such a parent that I did, that would take the time to write me such a thoughtful letter.  I can recount so many other positive attributes and example set before me.  What my father meant to me is so big that it cannot fit into letters on this page or any page.  What my father meant to me is real, it lives in my present,  it's definitive of who I am today. It is measured out each and every day as I try to in turn (as my father did before me) exemplify a life worthy of the Glory of God and to encourage my three grown children.   Finding this letter has also brought a question to my mind to ponder:  I know what my they (my mother and father) meant to me but what did I mean to them?   The answer:--it is all being replayed in the relationships that I have with my own children now.  And I hope, that even counting the failures, that I can do half the job that my dad, my mother, did for me.  Thank goodness that there is encouragement as  Matthew 11:30 expresses "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."