What’s with the advice and who is Sam?

It started with a nightmare. When my son, Sam, was about two, I dreamt I had brain cancer. In my dream, I had months to live. As in, less than 12.

“Damn,” I thought. “Who’s going to teach Sam all the important shit he needs to know about being a man?”

And so, I started writing these letters. This is the first one. From 2020 through 2022, I wrote 52 of these letters to Sam and am currently editing them into a manuscript. When he’s older, I’ll let him read them all, but you can read them first.

Dear Sam,

I’m not going to live forever. And while I hope to be around long enough to talk to you in person about all the things I’ve written here, tomorrow isn’t guaranteed.

Right now, you’re too young for most of life’s important lessons. Your mom and I are working hard on making you feel loved and getting you to shit in the toilet, but beyond that, most of this will go over your head for a few years. So I imagined an adult version of you and wrote these missives to him. That way, when the situation in question arises, if I’m not there to point the way, you can still get some advice from your old man.

And look, I don’t expect you to take this as gospel. Experience is a better teacher than I’ll ever be, and the odds are good that by the time you’re old enough to start reading and understanding all this, you might think I’m an idiot. I’m aware that might sound sanctimonious, but kids in their teens sometimes think their parents are morons. I did, and by the time I was eighteen, I was convinced your papa and nana didn’t know their asses from a hole in the ground.

Thankfully, they figured it out. They’ve gotten smarter as I’ve gotten older. Maybe you’ll think different, but I’m not holding my breath.

Take what you can from what I’ve written. Use it to help point the way when you’re not sure which path to take. Disregard the advice that doesn’t fit, and ignore the parts that don’t make sense. This is my attempt to always be there for you, even when I’m not.

I love you,

Dad

There are 51 more of these. The new ones go up on Substack first. Read the latest and subscribe for updates at bradpreslar.substack.com