4 years, 2 months.

Dear Jack,

I was born in 1981, the 1^st year of Generation Y; a group of people now in their 30s and 20s who were led to believe clichés like “you can do or become whatever you want to be as long as you truly believe in yourself.”

We were also repeatedly told how special we were; causing us to have unrealistic expectations about life once we became adults.

As I entered my teen years back in 1994, being introduced to legitimate sarcasm about life with Green Day’s Dookie album, I started realizing that if everyone is special and everyone can do or become whatever they want as long as they truly believe, then that meant I had a lot of competition.

While I was one of the first in my family to graduate college and that truly was a big deal, I graduated college at a time when, for all practical purposes, the 4 year college degree has now become the new high school diploma.

Life has definitely been harder than I expected it to be; at least in the sense of “first world problems.” Granted, my life as turned out, on the surface, to be quite “textbook American middle class.”

I graduated college, met your Mommy about a year later, got married about a year and a half afterwards, two years later we had you, and now we just bought our first real house which we strategically chose because it’s in Williamson County… the “right one” to be in for schools here in the Nashville area.

While I definitely had certain advantages growing up, no one just simply gave me what I have in life. Through my own parents and mentors, I had access to wisdom which would cause me to make good decisions; but I wasn’t given a free ride, for sure.

My life has involved a lot of hard work, patience, and self-discipline this whole time; which I hope is evident in the hundreds of letters I’ve written to you in the past several years.

Mommy and I had to work very hard to work through the tens of thousands of dollars in debt we were in, including college tuition. And we didn’t magically win a big sum of money; instead, we strictly budget what money we make.

The way I see it, society doesn’t owe me anything. Sure, it would be nice if everyone always treated me the way they’d want to be treated and rewarded me on the level I think I deserve.

But for the world to owe me anything, it would in essence mean that if I don’t get what it owes me, then I am a victim; that I am wronged and in need of restitution by those who apparently wronged me.

I just can’t live that way. That mindset seems way too toxic. I choose to live with an abundance consciousness instead of a scarcity mindset.

It’s sad to say, but I am convinced there will be no social security left for me once I retire. I don’t even expect the government to owe me anything, despite the taxes they take from my income.

That’s why I am so motivated to pay off our new house as soon as possible. It seems like the only way to get ahead these days, after paying off all other debts as Mommy and I did in July 2013.

So just as the world doesn’t owe me anything, it doesn’t owe you anything either.

You’ve got me and Mommy to provide for you, teach you, steer you in the right directions, and serve as your ultimate support team.

God has a special plan for you, yet I believe it’s based on you doing your part, and I take responsibility to guide you in learning what that is so that you can become the person God needs you to be as those opportunities arriving throughout life.

I can tell you this: It definitely is based on a lot of hard work, patience, and self-discipline.

Love,

Daddy