Father’s Day

Of course I should make a blog post about father’s day. Easy content, I’m a dad to two little kiddos, first hand knowledge. A boy and a girl, who I get to watch explore life, one step at a time. I get to watch them explore language, the world, and I get to see the echoes of myself in them. 

For everyone who is a parent, those who have kids far older than mine, they know the feeling of looking at the little people you made. There is stress, happiness, sadness, worry and bliss. They do the strangest things, cute, odd and everything in between.

I have only one wish for my children. To be good people. That’s it. Whatever their pursuits in life, as long as they stay good people. And, if I can play a part in that, I will have done my job.

Now, the real reason I wanted to write this post: 

I created humans, but when I’m writing, I am the father to every word. I create the world, I create the story, the characters, young and old. I come up with their parents, their grandparents and so on and so forth. However, unlike my own flesh and blood, I can’t want them to all be good people. Some are destined to be villains, the heroes, or something else. Every person, good or bad, I must take special care in how I raise them.

First, the major similarity of actual fatherhood. I get to guide them into something different than what they started as. Each thing I make has to reach a new destination, or what was the point? No one wants to read about how something never changed. The major difference is that I get to truly edit my thoughts when I write. You really only get a few do overs as you raise your children. You can change some things on how you raise them as you go, but if it’s a radical shift, well, you have to own the mistake you made early on. With time, you can influence a change, but in the end, it’s just your feeble mortal attempt to sway another human. In writing, I can write out this entire blog post as it is, and I can edit it immediately. I can change every word in a sentence, render it nearly unreadable with the sesquipedalian antics, infusing it with all the acrimony I can muster, coercing the reader’s mind into a miasma of agony…or just, say what I want, reaching the normal reader.

A side note on editing.

Everyone has a book in their head, I truly believe that. I think everyone is capable of telling a story. But, unless you are truly gifted, the rough draft of that story is probably just, okay. It takes throwing all of those ideas onto something you can change, and actually enacting change. If it’s stuck in your head, swirling around as an idea, you’ll edit forever. And most importantly, you’ll write down nothing. I have to remind myself of that fact as I tweak things in my head, and for anyone else reading, this is for you too. 

So, yesterday was Father’s day. I was able to spend some time reflecting. I reflected on the two humans I helped make, and I reflected on the other creations I've made. I think I’m on the right track to making good people, I think I’ve shown the care and patience to make good stories, and I look forward to telling more. And truly, I look forward to unleashing my children into the world, to be good people in it. I love you, kiddos.