Note: this is a letter that I wrote to my unborn son (due early August) last week.  It’s my sole contribution to Keturah’s baby shower.

Hey Jude,

You’re going to hear those two words A LOT.  I’m not kidding, either.  So many people are going to say lines to you such as “Hey Jude, don’t make it bad” or “Hey Jude, take a sad song and make it better.”  They’ll do so thinking that they are being witty and original.  In fact, as this letter is read to you for the first time, some of those people may be in the room right now.

But rest assured, there are couple good things about this future trend in your life. As your father, I am confident that there are two positive outcomes from your Mom and I deciding to name you Jude, thus sticking you with an eternity of “Hey Jude” references. 

First, there’s a very good chance it will spare you from a lifetime of people finding out what your last name is and asking “are you a dentist?”  From personal experience, I can tell you that I am simply stunned beyond belief when people say that to me and think that they are the first person to ever come up with that.  To be succinctly blunt…those people are dumb-asses.  There, I said it.

Second – and perhaps most importantly – “Hey Jude” by The Beatles is a really, really, REALLY good song.  It’s spectacular and that is not an exaggeration. When people hear that song on the radio, they turn it up so they can sing along.  They smile.  They laugh.  “Hey Jude” makes people feel wonderful.  There is no way you can listen to the song “Hey Jude” and not be filled with feelings of extreme joy and happiness.  Similarly, those same feelings of joy and happiness are what your mother, I, and countless others will feel when you are born and every time we think of you.  A simple song by The Beatles has brought so much joy to so many lives and your life will do the same thing.  

It is very important for you to know that you aren’t being named after a Beatles song.  I can’t stress that enough.  I only bring it up to prepare you for what’s ahead.  Don’t worry they’ll be plenty of other Beatles songs in your life, too.  I’ll make sure of that.  And they’ll be plenty of music beyond the Beatles.  Like I did with your older brother Mason, I’ll fill your early years with Bob Marley, Johnny Cash, Miles Davis, and Beethoven.  By the time you’re walking, we’ll add in Dylan, Wilco, The Grateful Dead, and Motown soul. 

Your life will also be filled with is sports.  There is a lot of sports watching in our household.  In the winter, we’ll huddle inside watching college basketball.  March is especially a fun time for that.  When that season ends, we’ll fill the spring and summer with Red Sox baseball.  In the fall, you and your Mom can enjoy college football Saturdays. 

We’re a family that likes to get outdoors so they’ll be time play plenty of sports, too.  Building sandcastles on the beach, playing catch in the yard, and hiking up a mountain are all activities we look forward to sharing with you. 

There’s so many good times ahead.  I can’t wait to get started.  Neither can your mother.  And neither can your older brother Mason – whether he knows it or not. 

So let it out and let it in.  Hey Jude, begin.

Love Always,
Daddy