Happy 21st to my Tiffani!!
Happy birthday to my baby girl Tiffani Brown! She is 21 years old today.
I stayed up past 12 last night so I could be the first person to text message her "happy birthday".
I wish that I could go to her house get her and take her to Vegas for a spontaneous 2 day "we will buy clothes when we get there" kind of celebration. Just me and her. That won't work for a number of reasons but it sure sounds like fun.
The following is a blog I wrote last year when she got married. I thought I would re-post it today in her honor.
originally posted June 18, 2008
To My Tiffani,
It seems like only months ago that you were born. I
sat holding you and cried with joy that you were alive, healthy and beautiful.
I promised you that I would always be there for you, that I would always
protect you, and that I would never let you down. It was a young and
inexperienced father’s promise. :)
You crawled, walked, talked, and went off to school
before I could turn around. It seemed like over a summer you learned to read,
swim and then became a teenager. They say time flies when you’re having fun. It
sure has flown and I have had a blast raising you.
I am not lamenting the lost time. I am treasuring
the memories of time spent with you. I am not a father wishing I had spent more
time with my kid. I am a father very thankful to have the privilege of time
spent with you. I am not a father filled with regret. I am a father filled to
the brim with pure joy and amazing memories of laughing and doing goofy things
with you. Like being in a Breckenridge Colorado gift shop and you dressing me
up as hop hip dad and taking pictures of me.
“Remember what your last name is”. You heard that
in some form many times over the past 20 years. “Last name” has been a big deal
in our family. When you were young and other kids would do something that you
and Kandice were not allowed to do, you would hear “their last name isn’t
Simon”. When you would go over to a friend’s house to spend the night, or on an
outing without mom and me, you would get the “remember what your last name is”
version.
The message was that I held you to a higher
standard and I wanted it to be clear. You couldn’t do what they did just
because they did it. You were my child and carried my name as a reminder. I
expected excellence from you and expected you to expect excellence from
yourself.
Well, this week you filled out the forms and
officially changed
your name. Tiffani Michelle Brown. I’m not used to it yet. I
changed it on my phone. That was weird. I can honestly say that I am not the least
bit sad about it. I am thrilled to death that you and Josh are married and have
come to accept that he wasn’t going to change his name. :)
What I want you to hear me say is: Well done! My
expectations were so high and you exceeded them all. I know that it wasn’t
easy. It wasn’t handed to you. You busted your rear to be a great human and you
have done it successfully. The name Simon is better because you carried it for
20 years. Well done!
Dad (June 2008)
