The younger Mr. Wilner and I shared burgers and beers on this Independence Day. We binged the latest edition to Star Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and even stepped outside to see if we could see any fireworks.
He told me to stop making bad dad jokes and I said it would never happen.
We talked about work and life in general and I thought about how quickly it all changed. Yesterday he wasn’t quite five and today he is old enough to buy beer.
I blinked and so much life passed by it truly boggles the mind.
Stood outside and stared at a partial moon and thought about various headlines and story ideas.
“The Mates Of Soul Meet I Know Things” could be a tale about a college band that somehow makes it big and plays Coachella.
Their big song would be When You Think Of Me I’M Thinking Of You, a tune played on Kazoos and bag pipes.
The B side would be Submit, You Only Think You’re The Boss and it would be conducted with typewriters and ice cream scoops.
Does that sound absurd?
It might, but life is absurd and every time you’re certain you have taken some things as far as you can you realize the universe wants you to go just a bit farther.
Who We Used To Be
Sat on the couch talking about the future and how who we used to be doesn’t have to dictate who we are today. But at the same time we don’t have to give up on certain wishes and dreams either.
I showed him the picture of me and he laughed and said he remembered my looking like that when he was much younger.
There is some truth to that, I think it is probably about 13 years old now, though it could be a few years more or less.
But I told him to take a harder look because though the hair might not look like that the expression on my face and in my eyes is no different.
Hell there really aren’t that many more wrinkles. I guarantee if I had a full head of hair people would think I am a chunk younger than I am.
But that is not the point, looks are immaterial.
The thing here is that we aren’t all on a particular or specific schedule. We don’t have to do everything at the same time or know exactly what we want to do when we grow up.
We just need to have the courage to keep going and to pivot when needed.
Sometimes we do that because of changes within us or those around us. Life doesn’t always give us choices but we do get to continue to be the captain of our own ship.
It is our choice how to respond to various events as we as to determine what steps we want to take to build out the roadmap we want to follow.
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Throws me a bit to realize it is probably 17 or 18 years since he and I started watching/discussing Star Wars movies/shows together.
He got much deeper into the universe there than I did, but that universe didn’t exist when I was a young kid or even a young twenty something.
Write The Right Stuff
Can’t write any more about the shooting in Highland Park other than it appears my family and friends there are ok. I am grateful for that even if statistically speaking it is unlikely they wouldn’t be.
That doesn’t provide as much comfort as it could because we shouldn’t be living like this. But we roll and work with what we have got.
I suppose that is the lesson the guy in the picture above hadn’t learned when that picture was taken. He knew bits and pieces of it, but he hadn’t been thrown into hell yet or climbed out.
That life experience changed me in multiple ways but it is also what gave me strength and confidence in so many other areas.
You can offer to kiss the tears away for people but if you can’t take care of your own too you aren’t that good for anyone.
Before the Wilner the younger and I bid each other good night we talked a bit about keeping in touch with people who are important to us.
It included some conversation about whether people should take turns reaching out to another. I told him the people who are important to us and consider us important shouldn’t be concerned with such trivialities.
“It shouldn’t matter who sent the last text or made the last call. You should reach out when you want to. Good relationships and friendships don’t keep track of such things.
Pay attention to those who you can just pick up with like no time passed and don’t let those just fade away. Life is too hard and too short for that.”
Still can’t believe he isn’t five anymore. I better not blink or he’ll be thirty.
