A Never Ending Letter to My Boys and A Reminder to Myself

To The Brothers Benton:

Family Always Comes First; Brothers for life.  

You Will:  fight and argue, be competitive and have your own interests.  

You Will:  always be brothers and you will always have each others back. period.

You Will:  Never. ever. date the same girl. Don't even think about it!

You Will:  be friends.

You Will:  Always love and cherish each other.

You Will:  work hard. do things that you don't like to do. fight for what you believe in. and always treat people with kindness & respect.

You Will:  probably try to share homework.

You Will:  go to college. even if it's after your stint in professional baseball. :) It took your Dad a while to finish, but he did it and so will you!

You Will:  have a job in high school.

You Will:  learn from the best.

You Will:  contribute to your world and be an active member in your community.

You Will:  be hugged and kissed by your family, no matter how old you might be. get over it.

You Will:  (at some point in your life) lose. struggle. All that life has to offer is worth fighting for, it will not be handed to you.

You Will:  be challenged.

You Will:  be thankful.

You Will:  Pray.

Everything we want for the two of you is written on our hearts.  The bottom line? Go for it - all of it - but do it with the intention of helping others and for your own happiness, never with the intention of being greedy.  The things that you can quantify (money, the number of friends you have, etc.) don't really matter in life.  People matter, Relationships matter, but Family always wins. 

(PS.  There are certain friends that can qualify as family, but you won't know which ones until you really know it. Trust me on this one.)