3/7/21

Dear Atlas,

It’s me, your Dad.

Ahead of your birth, I’ve started to see things differently; it feels like my perspective is widening and I’m understanding things with a new depth, a new dimension. One of those things is how I communicate with you, and with your Mom.

I think a lot about how you and I will communicate, whether that’s in the way of me holding you as an infant and looking into your eyes or if it’s through the talks we will inevitably have as you mature and grow older.

I hope we can communicate a position of stability, Atlas. I also hope you know it’s okay to be yourself, as you are. Your Great-Opa (great-grandfather) wrote a book about his life that reflected, in great length and detail, his journey as a child.

He faced many challenges and opponents simply for being himself. And he felt that harsh judgment his entire life. He said he wished somebody had gone back and told that little boy that it was okay, and that he was a perfectly fine young man as he was, would be, and will be.

Because he didn’t experience somebody telling him so directly, he went on to chase the answer in many different ways. He fought, ran, flew, and raced his way through a life that was nonstop adventure . . . and risk.

He was lucky to have made it through his life relatively unscarred. At least, on the outside.

I think he was really asking “Do you love me? Am I good enough? Are you proud of me?” with all of his actions and choices. Perhaps he was asking those questions of his father, or himself, or his lover.

As a man, you’ll find yourself asking those questions a lot, Atlas. They never quite seem to find a permanent answer if we don’t let them. I still ask these questions, Son—a lot, knowing you’re on the way.

Now is a moment when I’m doing my best to take the advice I now write to you, Atlas, the knowledge that you are more than enough and perfectly okay as you are.

Love,

Dad