5/5/21

Dear Atlas,

It’s me, your Dad.

Many years ago, I remember waking up and deciding I wouldn’t have “bad days” anymore. They seemed like an unnecessary waste of energy. So, I opted to make every day a great one and find the positive in it.

I’ve done my best to carry that approach forward with me as I get older, Atlas. These days, I remind myself how many things I have to be grateful for, and I realize that every day is only as good as I make it.

You will have your moments, though, Atlas. You’ll have days when you feel stretched too thin, out of options, frazzled, dazzled, and late. Those days are the ones that build your character and harden your mettle.

As your Dad, it’s my job to help you navigate these moments by setting an example of how I conduct myself during the times that inevitably beset us all. Observation is the ultimate teacher.

I grew up in a home where I never once saw my parents fight, call each other names, hit each other, or use profanity. When disagreements with siblings happened, we were instructed on how to quickly forgive, hug, and get back to normal.

That was an invaluable asset, Atlas. I learned how to treat other people well through the readily available vehicle of multiple siblings.

That’s the kind of home I hope you are raised in. I hope you never hear fighting, name-calling, abuse, threats, or disrespect. Those things are poisonous and unnecessary, and they have no place in our home.

As your Dad, I want more than anything to protect you from these things. I don’t want you to grow up feeling like you deserve to be disrespected because that’s the behavior you saw in your own home.

I wish a lot more parents recognized one simple thing: when they don’t figure their pain, problems, or karma out, they multiply those issues and dump them on their children.

Some people grow up and never realize the problems they face aren’t theirs. Those problems belong to their parents, who gave their children what they had. Sometimes that isn’t a lot.

I’m doing my best, Atlas.

Love,

Dad