I can hear you asking, "What's the point of this letter, Dad?" Maybe
the letter is just an experiment in time travel, an opportunity for you
to reach back across the decades to know your father's heart and mind at
a specific moment during your childhood. Or maybe it's about our
collective identity: Who am I with you? Who am I apart from you? If I
get lucky and die at a reasonable old age, you will be approximately the
same age I am now when you finally read this. I like the symmetry of
that possibility, especially if you have children, and you're in the
throes of trying to be a not-so-terrible parent yourself.