The Legacy I Hope to Leave My Son

This past weekend, my son Amir turned one.

I can’t believe how fast that happened.

Everyone says it goes fast, but this felt like warp speed.

I was inspired by my friend Chas Hoppe to start a journal for Amir. A place to write down notes, thoughts, lessons, and inspiration for him to read one day.

I officially started it on June 12th.

I wrote a few pages and reflected on fatherhood, on what this little boy has meant to me so far, and on the kind of love that changes you from the inside out.

I have a few of my dad’s journals, and many of paintings.

They weren’t written or made specifically for me, but sometimes when I read them, it feels like he was speaking directly to me. I know they were his thoughts, his frustrations, his peace, his ideas.

But somehow, I see him in those pages.

His spirit is there.

Simple. Intentional. Vulnerable.

I have never thought more about my own mortality than I have since becoming a father. Not in a dark way, but in a deeply human way.

It makes me think about what we leave behind.

Not just money, things and photos.

But words, stories and wisdom.

Evidence that we were here, that we loved, that we tried, that we cared.

The idea of passing something meaningful on to my son, something he can hold one day and reflect on, feels sacred.

What a gift.