April 29 - Message from a Dying Father to His Unborn Son (part 1)

Hello, son. If you are watching this, I'm already dead.
Wow, that was dramatic, huh? Sorry about that, even though it's true. I'm sure your mom already talked to you about this project already, but still. Jeez. Nothing like grabbing your attention right off the bat, huh?
Wow, weird beginning. I'm not exactly off to a great start here, but whatever. Tape's rolling. Let's do this.
By now your mom has already told you all about me and told you what happened to me and why I'm not around, but I wanted to talk to you myself, too--especially now when I'm still feeling pretty strong and everything. And I'm sure she's doing a hell of a job raising you and teaching you right from wrong, and, well, everything. Seriously, pal. Your mom is an amazing woman. And I promise you right here and right now that if you ever give her a hard time while you're growing up, I will come back and haunt your ass, so help me God. OK, I'm just kidding, but not really. Ha ha.
Wow, this is harder than I thought it would be. I kind of just figured I would be able to turn on the camera and, like, channel all my paternal wisdom, and these videos would just film themselves, but now that I'm actually doing it, I don't know. I felt like I had a bunch of life lessons all lined up in my head, but I didn't want to just write them down and read them. I wanted them to flow naturally, but now that I'm doing it, I'm thinking notes might not have been a bad idea.
Whatever. I'll figure it out. This is the first of many, and I've got a lot to say. I promise I'll be better prepared for the next one. They'll get easier and smoother as they go along.
I'm not sure how old you're going to be when you watch these. I guess I'll label them by topic and then let your mom figure out when the best time to share them with you will be. I kind of picture you watching this one when you're a little older, like in your teens or twenties. I want to advise you on a lot of things in these videos, but women are what I'm thinking about now, I guess, mostly because I'm thinking of your mom--as usual.
I wish like hell I could be there when you're going through dating and all that. Don't get me wrong. Your mom is fantastic and I want to reiterate my point about haunting you if you ever give her any trouble. And I will, man. I love you, unborn son. But I'll haunt your ass!
But yeah, like I said, your mom is great. Like, God. But in matters of women and dating, I think you need a man's perspective and I want to give you mine.
Don't worry. This isn't the sex talk. I'll let your mom handle that one. Ha ha. One good thing about taking an early exit, I guess. But yeah, no. Nothing about sex here. I just want to give you my wisdom on dealing with the ladies.
First off, have fun. And that goes for everything, by the way, not just women. Life's short. Don't let anyone ever tell you any different. Take it from me. I know. Live it up while you're here. Have fun with women. Have a blast with women, but also be good to them. Respect them and be kind to them. But if you ever find yourself with one that doesn't respect you, forget her. Move on. Don't be nasty to her, because if she doesn't respect you then she's probably not worth it. Just move on.
Another thing: Don't mistreat women. I know that sounds like common sense, but it bears mentioning. Don't ever forget that any woman you're dating is someone's daughter. Probably someone's sister, too. Be good to her. Be good to all of them. You don't have to kiss their ass and put them on a pedestal and worship them, but Goddammit, be kind to them. Be a gentleman.
What else? Date. Find a good one. Don't grab the first one that comes along. Be patient. It ain't easy. Believe me, it ain't. But be true to yourself. And I know that's the kind of thing people say in the movies all the time and it doesn't seem like it means anything, but it does. For me what it means is do what you like. Be the person you want to be. Be yourself and be happy being yourself and she'll come along soon enough.
Like, maybe someday soon you'll be at a concert and you'll be enjoying the everloving hell out of it, even while everyone else is just sitting there on their hands. But that won't matter to you. It won't matter that the rest of the crowd isn't into it, because you are. You're into it and you're not afraid to show it. You're up and you're dancing and so is your date. The rest of the crowd is sitting on their ass while you and your date are dancing and loving it and having the time of your lives like you're the only ones that are even there. That's the one you hold onto. That's the one you keep. Grab ahold of that one and don't let go. I did. And now all these years later, here you are.
And I wish like crazy that I could be there to meet you and get to know you and be there all the time when you're growing up and meet whoever it is you find, but I can't. So you get these videos instead.
Kind of a downer of a note to end on, but I can't really think of anything else to follow it up with. But that's OK. This is just the first volume. There'll be plenty more to come. Until then, I love you, son.