Letter to my Kiddo (again)

One day, I’m going to put you on your first set of training wheels. I’m going to record the whole thing. I won’t show it to you right away because I will fill it up with just messages I want to show you once you get older. Maybe like one video like that for every birthday; you can appreciate it a little more and overcome that embarrassment.

This is how I see it, I see myself starting to record you, and I’ll either have your mom record or I’ll pay a professional because based on the fact that I’m the smart one with technology, chances are unlikely your momma will be good at it. Anyways, I’m going to have you get on that son of a bitch (the bike) and pedal like a sort of dirt bike racer. I’m going to try and keep up with you by running, and I’m going to for sure try and hide the fact that I may be breathing a little quicker than normal. That’s going to be fine, though, because the moment that I’m apprehensive about is the time where you tip to the side and fall. I’m going to do my best to show you that I’m not so worried. Instead, I’ll encourage you to get back up on your own and rub some dirt on it. If you’re a big baby and start crying, I’ll probably check out to make sure you’re good, but it’s important to me to make sure you get up on yourself because I’m not always going to be there to make sure you get up and you have to learn this lesson at an early stage.

When you fall and get yourself back on your feet, that’s when I’ll make the first check-in with our video recording. I’ll tell your future self, “so I’m having to contain myself from picking your ass up and just carrying you inside the house because nobody needs to know how to ride a damn bicycle nowadays anyways.” You’ll probably even get a chance to see my sweat build-up from the nerves.

That first time you get on that bike, I’m going to let you go back inside if you want to, and I won’t pressure you to keep getting back up. If I did an okay job of raising you, you’re going to be the type to want to get back up on your own. That shit will make me smile.

After you’re done, I’m going to make you tell the camera if you’re happy or not. It’s okay if you’re not. Because what you won’t understand at that time is that you’re going to be time traveling. You’re going to be talking to your older self with some purpose.

I can’t wait.

-Pops