I heard the gleam cracked across his face in the moonlight.

“Daddy,” he whispered as I lay by him in bed.

”Yes,” I asked, waiting for the deluge of post-bedtime requests to rain down.

”Why,” he asked in the dark, “do you like me a lot, and why do I not like you?”

”Some things,” I whispered back ferociously, “will forever be a mystery. Now go to sleep.”

”Okay,” he said, sitting up. “And can you get me water and then come sleep with me?”

”Do I like you?” I muttered, stomping off across the room. “Life is a mystery.”

—-

Burgers or standup?

“For my first job,” our nine-year old explained, “when I’m 16 or so and I just need a minor job, I think I’ll be a comedian and go on Saturday Night Live to do political jokes.”

a-ha

There is a certain Norwegian threesome that did a certain song in 1981 called Take On Me that virtually everyone in the entire Western Hemisphere knows. It is a magnificent song and deserves the affection it’s been given; it has, however been given that affection with the idea that it’s from a one-hit wonder outfit and that could not be further from the truth. A string of wonderful, experimental synth pop rock classics from 1981 to now. Have I listened to anything else in the last week? Umm…yes? Maybe?

A jolly heads-up before the holidays attack.

Heroes and villains

We watched portions of the impeachment proceedings together; I told the children of their historic importance as well as the importance of observing people to see how some speak truth and some lie, and how those that lie often resort to loud voices, aggressive questioning, and fast talking to obscure the fact that they can’t…face the facts.

The facts start with this: Lieutenant Colonel Vindman, Fiona Hill, Maria Yavinovitch are patriots who have served their country with integrity and honesty.

Representatives Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes will face, in this life or the next, a reckoning for their defense of lies, corruption, and general engagement in behavior unbecoming a decent human being. I am appalled at their obfuscating, narrative-changing, finger-pointing, infantile defense of an indefensible situation and of a leader who has betrayed his oath to the country he purports to represent from the highest office.

Pathetic.

But we watch. And we talk. And someday, maybe today or tomorrow or ten years or twenty, they change the world. They make it better.

Because that is the way. The gift we give our children. The gift to be better than us, to improve on what we’ve built and make better lives for all.