A few years back, an editorial in Cook's Illustrated entitled "Dear Charlie" drew a strong response from readers and encouraged me to continue my habit of penning letters to each of my four children. The result of this effort is this collection of letters which records not only their travels through childhood but my own awakening to lessons learned from them. The simplest of moments learning to ride a bike, attending Old Home Day, going for a swim in a mountain stream teaches us as much about ourselves as parents as it does about the nature of each of our kids. I suspect that each of us writes letters to our children in our mind as we watch them take little steps into their future and ours. We soon find, if we don't put these thoughts down on paper, that time dims even the brightest revelations, leaving a dull ache of knowledge forgotten. Here is a record of one family's moments, times when child and parent make that unexpected connection, one which sparks hope for the future and memories of what has already come and gone.