Traveling Dad Hits The Friendly Skies…Again

Traveling dad hits the friendly skies again is the sort of plain wrap headline that probably won’t generate as much interest as the world’s strongest penis or safer sex through riskier blogging and that is ok.

I already wrote about the world’s strongest penis and I am too tired to come up with the sort of clever material that should be part of a post about safer sex through riskier blogging.

Sadly neither of those will enable me to skip my meeting with destiny and my plane ride tomorrow morning.

It is too bad because right I would prefer not to go. I would prefer to sit at home reading my book, writing my stories and wondering why toddler Jack didn’t understand how much pleasure is derived from a good nap.

Teaching Moments

I make a point to look for teaching moments, to find some part of the fabric of life I can grab ahold of and share with my children, something that will help them more easily navigate the paths they tread.

The plane ride and the business that come with it are a good way to do that, a chance to show them dad talks the talk and walks the walk.

We do what is required, even when we really don’t want to because sometimes the only way to get to where we really want to be is go…through.

It doesn’t have to refer to Churchill’s comment about how if you are going through hell you should keep going, although I would give the same advice.

Someone stumbled upon a post I wrote some years ago called These Pictures of You, it is one I am proud to say is mine because it works for me on many levels.

I don’t know how they stumbled upon it but they came across the version that lives here and not the original from the Blogger site.

The only real significance is that the Blogger site contains the few comments that people shared the first time around, comments that for some reason didn’t transfer when I moved to a self-hosted blog.

Ask me why I like that post and I’ll tell you the compliments were nice but the writing is what caught me, it is a giant fragment of a much larger story.

When I look at it I see potential and I think about what is possible, what can happen when you jump off of a cliff and figure out how to fly on the way down.

The night sky was filled with stars and the forest floor was lit by a huge smiling moon.

I love that line and though Stephen King says we have to kill our darlings I also believe sometimes we have to protect them.

We must be their knight protector and grim reaper and we must do what is required.

Sometimes I struggle with trying to teach my children about how to figure out how to do what is required because it doesn’t always have to follow a linear path.

It doesn’t always have to be something that follows traditional math where two plus two equals four.

Sometimes you can take a different route, sometimes doing what is required means taking the the long way home, blazing a trail where none exists.

It’s About Fear

Not long ago Steiner the minor and I had one of those father/son conversations where we shared thoughts and ideas about life.

I told him that sometimes it feels to me like life is about fear.

You let it drive you or you drive it and sometimes you do a little of both.

When he asked me to share what scares me I shared a couple of things but I didn’t open up the way I could have.

Some of it is because it is not my nature to share some pieces of me with people, even those I love very much.

And some of it is because I hadn’t decided where I wanted that line drawn between us. I don’t want him thinking I fear nothing because it is not true, not healthy and ridiculous.

But I don’t want him thinking I fear everything either.

What I want is for him to see me find what I fear and take a swing at it, not in the physical sense as much as I want him to see that I am willing to step out of my comfort zone, to take a chance because it means growth and opportunity.

I want him to see I chase experience and work hard to quench my thirst for tasting life in both the mundane and the extraordinary.

Maybe it is because I have few regrets but those I carry are monsters and they exist because fear prevented me from taking my shot.

Sometimes I confront those regrets and remind myself that fear can be a good thing, it can be the thing that keeps you out of trouble and prevents you from getting seriously hurt.

But it can also be the thing that keeps you from getting seriously happy.

I want my kids to be seriously happy.

I want us all to be seriously happy.

Be Like Teddy

Tomorrow I’ll get on board and play the game because I am taking the same advice I gave the kids tonight, Be Like Teddy.

I’ll do my best to create my own opportunities as often and as frequently as I can and when I can’t I’ll do what is required and keep my eyes and ears open so that if opportunity knocks I’ll be there to respond.