While your mom and several loved ones waited for your arrival the day before, both the Astros and the Rangers won -- a rarity since the Rangers stink. Hopefully they'll be better by time you go to your first game with a too-big baseball glove on one hand and cotton candy sticking to the other (and your hair, and your face, and likely in the hair of the very patient people in front of you too).

You'll have to ask your ma how the Rockets and Mavericks did. That's her domain.

Top headlines say that a train derailed, some Marines died in an Iraqi confrontation, and that the nation's security adviser was grilled on her knowledge of what happened in 2001.

Ignore that these headlines are depressing. Just below the surface of the front page is all sorts of wonderful news: cars can now warn sleepy drivers, having frequent sex may reduce your cancer risk, a woman gave herself a c-section that saved herself and her child, and the Mars rover finished its main mission.

The ability to not dwell on the obvious less-happy news and find the good news on the back pages is something I learned from your ma, and it's one of the many reasons she's my best friend. She applies this principle to other aspects of her life, exhibiting an amazing amount of patience with people I write off as severe buttheads while she waits for their good traits to become more apparent. Learn that from her.

Actually, kid, you�ve got a lot to learn from her.

She�s an amazing listener and somehow even better at seeing situations from all perspectives. When you get a bit older and do something stupid, you�ll at least be able to rationalize with her. Get good at making your case, kid... She knows how to work all the angles. She�ll call you on your bullshit, but she�ll also know when you merely stepped in some along your way.

Your ma is a damn strong woman. Cripes -- She took 21 hours to have you and made it out in one piece! In so many other ways, though, she�s proven her strength over and over again. She�s not afraid of the unknown, having made multiple moves across the country. She�s not afraid of anyone, having stood her ground and making her own decisions for much of her life. She�s not afraid of anything, knowing that she�s got a heckuva brain, good people skills, and plenty of loved ones who would throw themselves into a pit of ravenous monkeys for her.

And then she also has this amazing curiosity and the tenacity to explore those subjects. She knows damn near everything and damn near anything. If one of her requirements of a mate was that he knows the difference between a quark and a quasar, she�s got some pretty high standards.

Your dad�s a lucky man. I don�t know if he knows any of the fancy qu- words she speaks of, but he puts a flame in her already-bright green eyes. I�ve seen his shine the same way over her too. Your parents are definitely crazy about each other, and you�re quite a lucky guy that they�re equally as crazy about you.

The best to you always, Jayden. Welcome to this crazy life.

Love, Jo�