A7X One Shots

Dear River,
Your mother just went into labor with you. Pretty shortly, I will get to meet my baby boy. I don't think you will ever understand how excited I am to meet you. I'm the first of my friends to have a kid, a son no less.

This letter I am writing you is for when you're eighteen. I want you to have something, a piece of me to keep with you in college or in whatever you decide to do at eighteen. Hopefully, you are a little smarter than I was and actually finish high school and maybe pursue college. But if you don't, I certainly have no room to judge.

River, part of this letter is to tell you how much I love you. I hope I tell you that every day. You're my son, a part of me, and I will always cherish having you in my life. You are going to be my little man, and I cannot wait to see you grow up. I do love you, River.

You are going to have such an amazing life, I know it. There is so much in front of you, all you have to do is seize it. As my boys say... seize the day or die regretting the time you lost. You will be an amazing child, little man. You are going to be so smart and athletic and be able to do whatever you want to do with your life. I have full faith in you.

Will there be times your mom and I are mad at you? Of course there will be. Parents don't always understand children and children don't always understand parents. You are not going to be a perfect kid, but we won't be perfect parents. And no matter what happens, remember how much Val and I love you. We fucking love you, River.

I want to tell you a little bit about what my life was like at eighteen. By now, you will have met your uncles. You know all about Avenged. When we were eighteen, we left high school and we're trying to find shows to play at. I was screaming to get money... literally.

If it wasn't for my parents and Val, Avenged would never have been. At eighteen, I pursued my dream. Whatever your dream is, River, I want you to follow it. That dream may change, but as long as you keep plugging away, you will find something you love.

River, even if what you love doesn't make money, do it. Look, Avenged was lucky as fuck that we made it like we have. We never thought that playing our dopey, screaming music would get us to where we are. It was about five best friends playing together, enjoying being kids and young men together.

These are my last words before I have to get back to your mom. I get to hold you very soon. We're naming you after the best man I have ever known. His name was James "the Rev" Sullivan. He was my best friend.

James was the best and weirdest person you can ever have met. He was an intense drummer and he loved like no other. We all wish you could have met him, that he was still here. But life is weird sometimes.

There are things I want you to take away from everyone in your life. From your mother, I want you to take her spunk and attitude. She doesn't take shit from anyone, especially not me. I want you to have Johnny's shake it off personality. I want you to be able to learn to say fuck it when you need to. I mean, Little Gnome, left high school at fourteen. I want you to have Zacky's integrity. If it wasn't for him, Avenged would never have taken off quite like it did. I want you to have Syn's passion. You can tell how much he loves something when he does it. I want you to have that passion. I want you to have my presence. I may not always be the smartest or toughest in the room, but I make people look.

Most importantly, I want you to have one iota of James. I want you to know Jimmy like he was alive. I want you to have his love. You will learn all about him, and you will know his love.

I love you little man, and I cannot wait to hold you in my arms for the first time.

Notes

Sorry I've been MIA. My brain isn't always in the right place to write and it hasn't been lately.