Dear Kid,

The rate of your growth is fierce. Unstoppable. Momma has a full 36 waist now and I can’t stop looking at the mound of life. The other day she asked me if it looked like she had a beer belly. I told her, “No, of course not. It looks like a pregnant belly.”

Between us, I see no difference between a beer belly and a woman’s bulge at 20 weeks. But Momma is very emotional these days and her eyes get wet very quick at just about anything. Therefore, I’m choosing my words very carefully when she’s asking me to comment on her size. But I tell you what, even with her rapid expansion in girth, I’m increasingly finding her more beautiful with each inch gained around her waist.

We both realized that we have no control over your arrival. These first 20 weeks have flown by and apparently the next 20 go even faster according to all of the people who have driven this road before.

This makes me want to write to you about the idea of time.

My God, everyone on earth, or at least in the West, is choked by the tyranny of time. We become stupid balls of water when we can’t know the precise time. Every step we aim to measure.

Time has become our master and it’s my belief that such attachment fractures our ability to relish the sweet moments of life.

I’m not suggesting that laziness is the goal. No. Rather, it’s about being able to enter everything you do with ferocious focus. You see my child, being able to focus over a long period of time is a skill that is increasing in value so fast that people are willing to pay you for it these days. This trait spills its value into your personal life too. Is there anything worse than trying to read a wonderful book while thinking about what time it is?

I’ve found that in my most focused moments, I lose track of time. And therefore, I aim to lose track of time very often.

I’m fully aware you’ll probably say that I don’t understand how it is, and that you’ve got to do it as everyone else does, and that things have changed by the time you read this.

But, my sweet boy or precious girl, I stand by this ethos and would bet my life on it to stand the test of time: There are times when it’s safest and most advantageous to be alone when you need to focus on something. Don’t take it from me — this is Biblical wisdom.

If you read this and have a flame flicker in your heart to employ this strategy into your own life, please use some common sense and moral discretion. Complete isolation is foolish.

Momma has a full-blown California cold and her nose is running like a hose. Her sounds in the night woke me early so I decided to write this to you before we head out to look at some possible investments in Orlando, Florida. The gold rays of the day have just climbed over the horizon and I’m already sweating.

With love,
Papa