Skydekkerix

Son, you know the good lord tasked me to pass down the extent of my wisdom to you. Much as I hate it, you’re a kid with destiny and a path like any other, and you’re going to spend your youth dreaming of saving or conquering this world depending on how good a job I do raising you. You’ll be smarter than me (fucking hopefully), and that intelligence is a dangerous weapon to use without a compass. You’ll hurt and be hurt. Despair will battle with your hope in endless combat. The world will keep crumbling, and you’ll have to do your part. You’ll have to choose between yourself and the world, even though they are both important. You’ll see the infinite in the minute, and the mundanity in the enormity of creation, and I will be here adding my lessons as a stepladder to your rising.

So here is a big one, for a crucial time in your life when your destiny can be set. For when the protean parts of your personality are being shaped towards the hero or villain you will become.

Never wake and bake.

It has never felt good and will never end well.

No good day in the history of this planet has begun with punching a dirty ice break bottle at 9:30am (If you get out of bed that early).

Most likely it will lead to a panic attack, followed by a crippling existential crisis, followed by a mid-afternoon nap, followed by videogames and then a whole precious day of your life wasted with you lacking the enthusiasm to grab a bic of the coffee table that is literally two feet in front of you.

I know you are probably going to experiment with drugs at some point in your maturing, and I hope to hell you save it at the devil’s lettuce and don’t go harder. I also know I might have listened to my folks about it if they’d admitted to me that they’d done their fair time in their twenties, so I’m not going to pretend I haven’t been there.

But, for the love of yourself, and the love I have for you, save it for lazy Sunday afternoons, or, as was my favorite before I took on responsibilities, 3am when you are desperate for a good cry and a sign from God.

Saying this, I know you’ll make your own mistakes, and quite likely some dire ones that I could never prepare you for. And the young that don’t heed their parents’ wisdom are just playing par for the course. I’ll be there to pick you up, drive you home and make you do chores in the morning every time. That is my task and I wouldn’t trade it for any other.

The possibility of a fresh morning is one of the most precious things this life can offer, you do not want to spend it freaking out for an hour about talking to the pizza delivery driver only to discover pizza places definitely do not take orders at 10:30 in the morning.

Stay safe,

Love Dad.