Dang, it is kind of hard to believe that I now have three Father’s Days under my belt as an actual dad!

As with the previous two, yesterday was very nice. The girls allowed me to sleep until 8 a.m., at which time Sloan came into the bedroom to wake me up. When I walked out into the living room, a special message and gifts/cards awaited me.

What a nice display by my wife!

Heck, Sidney even went out and brought back my breakfast of choice (muffins).

But what I wanted to focus on with this blog post was a specific gift that “Sloan” got me. When I ripped open the wrapping paper and removed some cardboard, I had something special in front of me.

Sidney ordered a custom book for me with a couple of familiar characters…me and Sloan!

Sidney ordered me a custom book titled “Sloan Grows Up.”

While we drove to Atlanta for our special getaway a month ago, Sid was busy on her phone as I sat behind the wheel listening to podcasts. I didn’t know it at the time, but my wife was “authoring” the book and “creating” the illustrations.

The company she worked through, Hooray Heroes, specializes in personalized children’s books. You go online, select a book template, insert names, and, best of all, create representations of the main characters. In our book, Sloan might be a shade or two darker than she is in real life but Sid made a spitting image of me.

A look at how the book is formatted along with what I look like in it!

The book Sid made, “When Sloan Grows Up,” tells the story of me empowering Sloan to dream big and become whatever she wants. Throughout the pages, I suggest possible occupations that she can aspire to, such as a writer or even President of the United States. Sid picked each job based on one of my own characteristics (i.e. I enjoy writing and I was once a U.S. Presidents prodigy).

A page of text from the book.

This gift hit the money because not only does Sloan love to read but this book is personal. For it to contain both of us as the main characters is special.

Thank you Sidney for this special gift!

Thank you, Sid and Sloan, for a nice Father’s Day. I love you and will treasure the book. Don’t Blink.