"Every hundred feet the world changes"
Roberto Bolaño, 2666
What Happened?
Mr. Wonka: "Don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he wanted."
Charlie Bucket: "What happened?"
Mr. Wonka: "He lived happily ever after.”
The Loneliness Epidemic
Loneliness is a trendy topic lately ... unsurprisingly coinciding with the rise of social media and ultra-connectedness. It's an important thing to think about.
Of all the fantasies human beings entertain, the idea that we can go it alone is the most absurd and perhaps the most dangerous. We stand together or we fall apart.
Sometimes - especially on the hard days - I wish to yell, "TRIBE! ASSEMBLE!" into a giant megaphone and everyone I love would appear from whatever geographical place or distant life-phase they're in to share a meal and talk with joy, fear and wonder about how strange and disorienting it is to be human.
A Little Parenthesis
“We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.”
Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
An Ireland Thing (part 1)
My parents and sister came to Ireland with me. I've never travelled anywhere beautiful without thinking, "I wish my family could see this," so it was truly amazing to finally have them next to me on an international adventure.
One day I heard my parents talking in the other room and because I'm nosey with them, I was like, "HEY WATCHA TALKIN' 'BOUT?"
My dad said this and it was so lovely I wrote it down to keep forever:
"I was just saying to your mother that I love her in the USA and I love her in Ireland. I love her all around the world."
They're a couple of lucky ducks, those two. They really have each other's backs.
Mom and dad at the church in Galmoy, Ireland where my dad's family is from and his great aunt Judy is buried.