Letter to Kaitlyn

Dear Kaitlyn,

I am writing this letter to help you know the importance of schooling. I know you have struggled with it your whole life, I am the same way and you know that.

By the time you get this letter I will be on my mission. I am looking forward to that event because I know that it will help me learn and grow as an individual. I hope you are still being a great kid like I have seen when I have been around.

I am writing this letter on May 21, 2009.

I want you to know that the start of your ninth grade year is the most important year of high school in my opinion. If you put your mind to it school is not that hard, it really is just a mind game you have to play with yourself, just like our tennis ball game that we have played. In case you have forgotten our little game it is the one where you and I stand in certain spots of the yard, we each have a tennis ball and we throw them at the same time.

For some reason, these last couple of days you have been making me run, trying to catch your ball which is five feet in a different direction then were I am standing. The reason I bring this game up is because it is exactly like the mind game you play with school. They throw a ball at you; you catch the ball and throw it back. They throw you an assignment you throw it back. Sometimes you may not have it completely correct but at least you tried. A lot of times, you have thrown the ball, you have over or under thrown your estimation. You can not do this with school, you will wear yourself out.

If you over shoot your goal you’re making things too hard for yourself, not doing what matters most (I want you to read Elder Uctdorf’s talk about “what matters most”).

There are two things that I have regretted not doing in life so far, not putting enough attention on school, and not spending more time as a family. As a family we tried to sit together at the dinner table as often as we could. I never questioned it because I new the answer, our family is like a bunch of bees, we never can stay in the hive for five minutes, we know we have to do something else. These two key ingredients to life are so important. I can not even explain to you how we need to strive to do better in everything we do.

One person who has set that example for me is our one-of-a-kind mother. She is always doing, whatever she can to go the extra mile. For example, the time that she went to one of my first dances and she came to dinner to take pictures. Another example is the time when she made the eagles for the temple celebration. And the time when Mom decided to build the huge train for our church Christmas party. Our Mom is a perfect example of persistence and showing we can do anything we want to.

We need to be on course in our lives. We can not go off and on the trail, we need to stay on the trail and overcome the obstacles that are in front of us at the time.

Another person we can learn from is our Dad. You and I both know that Dad is mostly correct all the time. Our Dad has not been the most successful in my life time but Dad has tried and tried again to make a successful business and he will never give up until he succeeds. His persistence is the reason we have the life style we have today. Our Dad is a perfect example of patience, hard work, and a love for what he does. Some examples are the countless hours he spends just reading the news paper and his sudoku… he works harder then anyone else in the family. While I did early morning seminary, I would see things that no one else would see. Our Dad would rise out of bed about five thirty in the morning to his office and start working without hesitation. When I returned home at three o’clock everyday after school dad was hard at work still on things that he needed to do to hopefully get his company on top once more. I am hoping you and I can learn from these traits from the people that are in our everyday lives.

When I return home I will be on the scariest trial the world has ever put in front of me. I will be going to college and I am hoping that I will go to dental school and become a dentist. So you and I can get free fillings. But that won’t matter because you and I both know that we always brush our teeth no matter what. One thing that I really wish I would have done during high school is, knowing what I was good at. I know this sounds weird but I have really never known what I am good at. I have many things that I can do but I have never known about something that I could pursue. Something that I could do as a hobby and a job that has always been a dream of mine is doing what I love and earning money for doing so. I want you to pursue all of your dreams you have whether it be a doctor or a nurse or a plumber. I just want you to know that there will be sometime in your life when you need to use your talents and skills to get through the troubled times and there is no better way of doing that by doing something you love to do.

Kaitlyn, there is so much that you can do in life don’t let the little things slow you down. Your friends, I hope, are the best you have ever had. Keep the good ones and always meet new people.

One of my favorite things I love to do is meet new people and discover what they are really good at and what they really enjoy doing. When I meet a new person it is like opening a whole new part of the world to me. I really love people and all that they do for me.

Another thing that I really enjoy is service I love to help our community. I know it sounds weird, but whenever I do an eagle project for one of our scouts I am more then happy to help out when we are serving others we are serving ourselves. I would really like it if you would try to meet new people everyday and if you would continue serving others with service whether it be our own family or a person you have never met before. I love doing these things and know that you are almost just like me you do to. I hope that you can change someone life and help out others in your life time.

Kaitlyn, I really hope that you can be true to yourself and others and I can not stress on you enough how important schooling, good friends, service, knowing your skills and your talents, and how to handle all of them. I hope you have a very successful life and do what you would really like to do. One day you will be a mother, I am sure you will be one of the best but both you and I have something that our mom and dad never had. We have our mom and dads support in what we do with our lives. When I am a dad I will be following the example of our dad and how he treated me and how he helps me understand what matters most. I will also be following our mother showing my unconditional love for not only my kids but for others, I hope you will look at our parents and follow their wonderful examples.

I hope that this letter has influenced you as like it has done with me. Writing this letter helped me know what I need to do, what I must do and what I will do. You are the one and only Kaitlyn Miller and you know what will help you, who will help you and how it will help you all you need to do is try you very best and I promise you that you will have the best life you could ever have.

I love you with all my heart….. And then some.

Your brother Brayden