Well, here's the thing. You're never going to be born because I'm a cynic who will never get married. I know what you're thinking. What the fuck are you writing this letter for if you're not planning on or aren't inclined to have any offspring? Well, I'm probably writing this because it's a frigid winter night and I'm heading home on the subway from a job that I hate. Or perhaps it's the onset of clinical depression. Or maybe I'm just in one of those black Hemmingwayesque moods where I'm feeling writerly because I feel like I really don't give a shit. Sadly, your dad is a tormented soul who wrestles with something known as angst. What I'm hoping for is that you enjoy the world as I never could. My hope is that you don't reach a point in your life where the garden of possibility turns into a vast acre of tumble weeds.
I'm writing this letter in the hope that the cycle of life will always keep us connected. Not at the end when I'm on the way out and your journey has just begun , but all throughout the first act and right up until the very end of the picture. Don't worry I'm not going to preach to you about better living through chemistry. Blow up the lab, get it out of your system. Do all the self indulgent and or stupid things in one shot. Trust me, you'll be better for it later.
My hope is that you have, at some point, a great love story like your dad had once upon a time. Hopefully it's a love story that lasts through the last act and has a happy ending. Nothing contrived, just heartfelt. Hopefully this woman, whoever she is, will make you better and hopefully she'll make you feel like anything is possible. Take a lesson from your old man, nothing is trivial. Not to her anyway. Be a good listener and be a pip and get her coffee in the morning; even if you have to go out in the freezing cold. Be proactive, be open, be sweet, don't ever take this woman, whoever she may be, for granted.
See the world, be impulsive, never over think things. Just.... be the man I aspired to be once upon a time. Lastly, if you root for the Cubs.... keep your sense of humor and an extra supply of faith. Even if all seems hopeless, even if you feel your loyalty wavering; have faith. Have faith and then have a big old cry, it's OK, when you're sitting there at Wrigley on a frigid October night and the Cubs break finally break through and do the unimaginable. Soak it all in. And when it's time to settle back into reality, be sure to tell that woman in your life that you love her. Say it often, don't be a "guy." Why? Because you never know. Life is funny that way.
Yours,
Dad
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