Last night we took pictures of our 18 year old daughter on her way to the senior prom. If I close my eyes, I can remember my own senior prom night. My wife was my girlfriend at the time and we went to the same high school as our kids attend now - so it’s really easy for my mind to get back there. It’s almost like living on the set of a movie that was filmed 30 years ago and left completely intact. You remember starring in the movie. The set keeps evoking memories of it, no matter which direction you’re looking. But it’s not your movie anymore. Its your kids’ movie and you’re in a supporting role. If you’re lucky.

Here’s my wife and I included on the page next to our kid in her high school yearbook - we are, apparently, JFK Bellmore Royalty :)

Anyway, the run-up to the senior prom was an epic race run by my wife - the dress fittings, the timing, the pre-parties, the hair, the makeup, the jewelry, the date, the prom-posal, the pictures, the friend group, the afterparty, the transportation, outfit change, the clubbing in Manhattan afterward, the way home, the next morning, etc. Every aspect of this thing fell on her and, as usual, she got us through it with flying colors. It’s a thing we planned and stressed over and re-planned and second-guessed and third-guessed and tossed and turned about for months and then - just like that - it’s over. Forever. Our daughter’s senior prom is in the books. And in two days she’ll graduate high school. And that will be in the books as well.

Two clichés I find myself repeating to people with younger children -

1. It goes fast, enjoy it while it lasts

2. The days are long but the years are short

These are both basically saying the same thing and imparting the same message. The more of life I experience, the more true they become.

There are big moments looming in your future - for you, for your family, for your company and your career. They are getting closer to arriving all the time. The day will come. And then it will go. I promise you that. Everything comes and goes.

The little boy watching his big sister head off to her senior prom? He’s in ninth grade. He’ll be the boy in the tuxedo soon enough, taking pictures with his date. And then he’ll be off as well.

His prom will come and go just like everything else. It’s a long time from now but it’ll happen in the blink of an eye.

You can’t stop it or even slow it down. All you can do is try to be aware of it all in the thousand or so moments that will happen in between.

Reasons to stay long Nvidia, Apple and Amazon

When we first envisioned The Compound and Friends, during the height of the pandemic shutdowns, the idea was that we would have a rotating group of regular guests who would come by frequently to share their market and investing insights with us and the audience. This week’s episode of TCAF is as close as we get to that original vision.

Eric Jackson and Alex Kantrowitz have each been on the show multiple times. They are experts on media, telecom and technology companies and there was so much Michael and I wanted to ask them about. We got into Nvidia, Tesla, Amazon / Anthropic, Microsoft / OpenAI and lots of other stuff that’s come up during the course of the week.

I hope you love this episode as much as we loved recording it. It’s available on all podcast platforms now!

Thanks again for listening and making our show a part of your weekly routine. We really appreciate it.

Have a great weekend - enjoy the moment! - talk soon. - Josh