Dear Lucca,
It’s been a while since I wrote you one of these notes. I’m hoping that you’ll go back and read several of the pieces that I published on our blog over the past year as many of them were intended for you. Hopefully, by the time you can read these, I’ll have figured out a way to bundle them all together in one place for you. Until then, I suppose email will suffice.
You took a ride to Virginia today with Nana and Steve. You were so excited to stay in a HO-tel (you have the cutest little southern accent with certain words) and skip school tomorrow. Still, I think you have really grown to love school and love learning. You’ve really grown up this past year and I think pre-K at Northlake has played a big part in that. You are a sponge, always looking to learn more about the world around you. I truly hope that does not change as you grow older. And I will do my best to feed your curiosity.
But for now, I just wanted to pass along something I read that struck me. I’m reading a book called Tribe of Mentors by Tim Ferriss. I hope that you will read all of Tim’s books will you grow older. Your Dad has learned so much from him over the past several years. In Tribe of Mentors, Tim asks hundreds of folks how they define success. This was the single best answer I read:
Success is: Do your kids remember you for being the best dad? Not the dad who gave them everything, but will they be able to tell you anything one day? Will they be able to call you out of the blue, any day, no matter what? Are you the first person they want to ask for advice?
Your Dad’s definition of success has changed over the years. The biggest change came when you were born. Being a dad is hard. You didn’t come with an instruction manual. So I’m learning this as I go and hopefully getting a little better each day. When I look back on my life, I will consider myself successful if you remember me as the best dad. I hope that you will be able to tell me anything … because you can. I hope that you can call me out of the blue no matter what. Because I will always be there to take your call and listen to whatever you have to tell me. I hope that I am the first person that you ask for advice because I only want what’s best for you.
You’ve only been gone a day and I miss you already bud. I hope you had a wonderful time with Nana. Can’t believe how fast you have grown up.
I love you, Lucca. See you tomorrow.
Dad