One Week in a Life

There are certain weeks in the timeline of life that for one reason or another hold special significance. This is one of those weeks in my timeline. There are a lot of memories attached to this week, and memories create new thoughts as old moments are relived. The week began with memories of 9/11, which felt very far away on Tuesday. But when I watched some recently released audio on Wednesday, the paralyzing horror that I felt that day in NYC came back, but so did the sense of community that flowed through NYC in the weeks afterward. 

At the end of this week, it will six years ago that my dad passed away. I was fortunate enough to be with him and two of my brothers for three days in Houston just before he died. As with 9/11, it's a weekend that increasingly feels far away. The funny thing about time is that so much life happens as it passes, that the accumulation overshadows all that came before.

My daughter is a big part of that accumulation of newness. Yesterday, she wrote her name for the first time. I'm not sure why that is a moment that felt so important to me, but it did. Perhaps because it's one more step toward literacy and the world of stories and learning that such a skill will open for her. 

Yesterday also marked the 20th anniversary of my first date with the girl who would go on to become my wife, my best friend, the mother of my child, and the love of my life. In that course of time, all of the changes that it has brought, she has always been my constant. Though our lives have changed very much, they've always been changing together and I'm so grateful for her.

To celebrate, last night we went to see one my favorite bands of the past few years, The Mystic Braves. They came from L.A. to play in our small city. We were two of very few people to attend, but it was a wonderful night. We were able to walk to the show, enjoy dinner, and "hang out" for several hours the way we used to do before we became the parents of an intelligent, and sometimes demanding, little girl. 

For whatever reason, most likely something to do with the zodiac, the second week of September is one in which the universe has zeroed in on me and chosen to focus its attention. As I grow older, I've come to see all events, both good and bad, as part of the magic of life and try to appreciate the journey...whatever may be, may be.

Cape Cod Getaway

I spent last week on Cape Cod with my missus, her parents, and the little one. Having never been there before, I found it to be a kind of magical place. We spend most of our time on the bay side beaches, which were incredibly affected by the tide, so that at low tide, you could walk out forever. It was very calming and got to spend a lot of time with my three-year old. She was such a little explorer on the beach and I'm constantly in awe of her wide-eyed curiosity and imagination. 

One day on the beach, I decided to tell her a story that I made up as I went along. A story about an underwater vacation that I took with two hermit crabs to a castle on the ocean floor made of sand and shells, where we could ride seahorses and discovered a huge octopus. She was enthralled. 

The entire trip was a kind of jolt to the imagination, as visits to unfamiliar places often are. One of the craziest things that happened, was that there was a pony unicorn in my dream. That was a first.

Something About my Father...

This is a little story I told about my dad for a class last quarter. On this day, it feels appropriate to share it with all of you. Happy Father's Day, Dad! I miss you.

Eight Spinning Planets

Eight Spinning Planets is a  book that I wrote several years ago and one that I'll admit that I've thought little about since I wrote it. Not that I'm not proud of it, I think it's a very fun and informative book for young children, but I simply sort of forgot about it. 

Recently I've spent a lot of time thinking about it. It just so happens that my daughter LOVES this book and has me read it to her frequently of late. It's the first book of mine that I've been able to share with her, along with Easter Bunny's On His Way (which she also loves). It's been really special to share this book with her, and has created a new sense of self-appreciation for work that I've done. 

Another way this book has crept into my consciousness has to do with me logging into my Twitter account a few months for the first time in years. There I found a message from a teacher who shared this video. I've been so involved with other aspects of my life over the past couple of years that it's been easy for me to forget that I ever wrote anything of impact. It feels good to be reminded otherwise.

Father's Day

The past three Father's Days have taken on new meaning for me, for the obvious reason of having become a father, but this year I find myself thinking more about my own father and his passing. He died two years before my daughter was even a thought and it has always saddened me that he never had the chance to meet her. But as I spend this day reflecting on what it means to be a father, I'm also missing my own father and all of the opportunities to seek his advice. I've been thinking about how I'm his only son who has become a father, and know how we would have bonded over this shared experience. And though I miss all of the advice and knowledge he could have passed on, I still have the memories of his actions and will always try to be as wonderful of a Dad to my little girl as he was to me.

Creation

As my journey into fatherhood quickly approaches, I've been thinking a lot about the act of creation. I've always been interested in the concept. As a writer, I'm constantly creating lives and stories, but they only exist in some other realm. Having a baby is an entirely different thing, and sometimes the whole thing can be overwhelming, contemplating how two people can create a life where one didn't exist before.

The other day, I was thinking about this, and I came to the conclusion that the concept that life is created by a divinity bothered me. A new life isn't made by an act of divine intervention, it is made by a man and a woman. To deny that is to deny the power we hold within us. It's what makes people believe that humans don't have the power to fix the problems of the world, when we do. If we can create life, we can certainly fix the environment, conquer hunger, poverty, and disease, but to do these things, we need to believe in ourselves and our ability to affect change. 

As a father, I want my daughter to be aware of her potential. I don't want her to ever think she can't do something. Of course, there are many things we can't do by ourselves, but together, I truly believe there isn't anything the human spirit cannot achieve. These are the values I want to pass on to her, because divinity is intrinsic within us all.