goofing off near a canal, somewhere outside Keukenhof, in the Netherlands The last five years have been, to put it mildly, a bit trying. I lost my father, my brother, my clients1, and quite a bit of my sanity. I lost a lot of weight and then gained it all again. The career pivot is going slower than expected. I feel pettily jealous of the bright young minds I mentor, when they go on to accomplish great new things, while I am here, clawing the mud....
Dad “He’s dead?” said Princess. […] “Who told you that?” said Grandad. “We keep that name moving in the Overhead,” he said, and it seemed to Princess that the wind in the shutter arrays above her blew more forlornly […] His name is in the code, in the wind, in the rigging, and the shutters. Haven’t you ever heard the saying, ‘Man’s not dead while his name is still spoken’?...
“So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not Ill-supplied but wasteful of it.” […] All things that are still to come lie in uncertainty; live straightway!” ― Lucius Annæus Seneca, On the Shortness of Life Thank you, for sharing my journey with me! P.S. Get your friends subscribe to the newsletter!
Click the pic for a larger one Love looks pretty on you. Makes you soft, tender, proud. Makes you sit up and take notice. Gives you a home to set down your things. What a blessing it is, to have music and dancing and poetry. What a gift it is, to look at someone and say, I’m so happy to have found you at last, at last, at long, long last...
This birthday is my first without Daddy. And so this post today, because I want these words out of my head and heart, before they overwhelm me. Dad & I have birthdays immediately following each other (the 25th & 26th.) All my birthday memories are inextricably linked with him. Him being indulgent with his firstborn. Him holding me close and sharing his cake with me as I grew. Him taking care of me and letting me crawl into his lap to say our prayers on cold mornings in our small drafty house....
Not all superheroes wear capes! Happy birthday, Mummy! Love from Daddy … and the rest of your entire brood!
Omnia mors æquat. “Death levels all things.” — Claudianus And so, I take each new day with gratitude.
You turn 34 today! I’ve known you for seventeen of those years. (I’ve known you half your life! :) We’ve been in love, eight. And I’ve been privileged to share my life with you, and walk with you for nearly, six. I cannot imagine life without you. You love crazy movies; (Which you drag me to.) You can engineer anything out of anything. (rain gutters out of old bisleri bottles,...
I lucked out when I met you on Feb 22nd, 1997 at my very first job interview. For all the photos I’ve shot of people, I still don’t have one of yours :) You’ve been my guilty secret :P While my life has been filled with turmoil, for the past fifteen years, you’ve been the one I counted on. You’ve always been my rock! You made sure work was a safe haven and a joy to do....
My mother wants me to write for her … You wrote for Daddy, she said. Now write a little something for me too. Such is Mummy. Satisfied with love. So here’s to you Mummy! Happy 60th! Sometimes I think, being a mother is all she ever knows. She had three boys by the time she was twenty eight. Daddy worked two jobs, to feed us. Leaving Mummy to handle three hyperactive boys....