Is that cocaine?
Him: I’m afraid.
Me: It’s ok to be afraid. But we live our lives despite the fear, not just with it, ok?
Him: Ok, papa. I’ll be brave.
Me: That’s my boy. Don’t be afraid. Let’s go on an adventure.
Almost one year later, I finally went for a reasonably long bike ride with the kid. We went up Riverside up to about 140th. Pac was across the river in NJ and I had half-a-mind to go there but I wanted to slowly ease the kid into riding the bike.
He reminded me of Rerun on Peanuts.
Him: That was so much fun! Can we do it again tomorrow?
Me: Yup! Remember that life is on the other side of fear. Life is always on the other side of fear, kid. Everything you’ll ever want, is always on the other side of fear.
Him: I don’t understand.
Me: You will.
We ended up going again the very next day all the way down to Charles Street. God, I love that kid.
That pic way down below is him belting some Rolling Stones at a birthday party we went to afterward.
My buddy Ian’s an actor and he needed help filming a reel for an audition. It didn’t take too much time and was pretty interesting, I gotta say.
Him: This is a lead part.
Me: Great, if you get it, I can borrow money?
Him: (later) Thanks, man. This was a huge help. Wait, is that cocaine?
Me: What? No, it’s from national donut day.
Been helping another buddy deal with massive changes that’s been happening in his life.
Me: It’s like that Hemmingway line I like so much: Life is gradually and then suddenly.
Him: (thinking) I hate to say it, but it’s probably a good thing this happened.
Me: You know that, if humans died out, Earthlings would probably look like crabs?
Him: What?
Me: Crabs. If left to their own devices, living things tend to become crabs. Because organisms – individually and wholly separate from each other – become crab-like through evolution. It’s survival of the fittest, and the fittest animal on a planet that’s 70% water is a crab. So animals that look like they’re related, aren’t. They just figured out that they should be crabs.
Him: That’s crazy.
Me: I’m telling you this because you and I independently, and without consultation, came to the same conclusion. While this is terrible that it happened, on whole, for us, it was a benefit. It’s awful to say, but true things are often awful.
Location: Charles Street, with the boy
Mood: excited
Music: she loves cocaine and the nineteen seventy-five (Spotify)
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