Dear Amon,

Today is Valentine’s Day and I am halfway around the planet from you in Amsterdam.  I’ve been in Sweden and The Netherlands this week.   And passing by windows of displays with everything heart shaped, from cookies to pillows to notepads,  I can’t help but thing of #amonsheart and my practice of posting photos around the world with the little fuzzy heart in my hand.   While a substitute for having you with me, it’s a great way to feel connected to you when I am so far away.   It helps me to know that on the other end of this little heart, is it’s nest – a slightly bigger heart, hanging by your crib – and in that crib is YOU! One day soon to be united [soon to be moving into his big boy bed].

They say that absence makes the heart growing fonder.  I don’t think that is true for the love of a parent towards a child.  My fondness for you was a full vessel the moment I laid eyes on you in that hospital in Walnut Creek, 2 years ago last week.   And the only thing that has changed is the intensity of that love as I know you with every passing day, month and year.   I can’t wait to watch your life, my son.   I can’t wait to see all the ways we are different, and learn what you are passionate about and what makes you tick.

So, on this day of love and loved ones, I send you the biggest heart from The Netherlands.

Love, Daddy