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At The Risk of...Being a Proud Dad

My two daughters were working a school play tonight. At the risk of sounding like a proud dad...well the play went very, very well. It seemed anything but an amateur production of A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.

I recall attending some school plays when I was in high school. I don't know maybe it is hard to suspend disbelief when you are friends with some of the actors. I don't know. To me it seems the production quality is vastly superior. Maybe it is because Satellite High is a large school and they have a first class theater.

Anyway, a funny thing happened on the way to this production; Sarah and Amanda have become pretty close over the course of the last year or so. They still argue and sometimes they fight just as siblings will but they also stand up for one another, as good sisters should. I think I am proudest of that accomplishment. They have learned to work together instead of undermining one another. They are young adults. They have made some very good friends and some of their friends overlap, especially those involved with theater.

I wish I could take credit for but perhaps I am most impressed because they have done it largely on their own. I wish I could even say that they have good genes but it has more to do with their not quitting and that is something you learn in life not something you inherit. I wish I could say that I have might have inspired them but I won't go there as largely I have not.

I have had accomplishments in life and they have already begun to have theirs. Life is not about accomplishments as much as what is acquired as knowledge through the experiences. Accomplishments are markers, way stations along the course. Accomplishments should never be confused with an overall destination because life does not have an overall destination.

Destinations tend to be disappointments; it is usually more fun to travel than is ever is to arrive. We fantasize about what is ahead of us and usually it is something quite different than we ever imagine. Sometimes it is better other times it is worse, occasionally it is simply a very bizarre alternative that is neither better nor worse.

If we knew the future what would be the point to going there unless it looked like it might be fun?

I have dealt with temporal dislocations and paradoxes and all sorts of things in my books. I can honestly say that while I write I am a true believer in the bullshit that I am producing. When I revise it I read my own raw bullshit and I refine it into manure. Through further revisions it becomes fertilizer. That is how the whole creative process that goes on with me actually works. Well there is background music and an occasional butt burp but that is basically how I write.

My point is that we all deal with the same things from time to time and it is a testament to our individuality that some of us are more creative than others at dealing with the stresses of the modern world. I write. Others paint, draw, create cartoons, and perform. Others run businesses large and small, others invest or manage investments to stimulate business. Many teach, coach, motivate and inspire. Still others lead us and make decisions that cause yet others to have to fight and sometimes die for us. There are interpreters and translators, builders and destroyers, hurters and healers, farmers and shepherds, cultivators and harvesters, managers and the managed. There are some that report and others that comment. There are many that consult and others that seek consultation. Some preach; many pray while others are convinced that there is no one listening anyway. We are a diverse lot, this humanity that we are at this moment in time. I know I have no alternative but to be a member of humanity but sometimes I do not feel that I belong.

Then, one of my kids drags me back to reality. Did I wash clothes today? Did I turn on the dishwasher? Can I come to school to pick them up because it is raining? I love my kids. No only have they kept me occupied but they have also kept me rounded, focused and rational despite the sometimes insane things that go on in my world and in my writing.

Tonight I was a very proud dad of two daughters that have worked very hard to create something that succeeded in its intended goal, entertaining an audience of hundreds. That is no small feat. If you think that it is, then I ask you: when was the last time you drew a crowd like that?

E

posted by Unknown @ 10:25 PM