Last Weekend
Everything comes to an end. Maybe not everything but a lot of things do. It is all about the transitions and changes in life and if we understand them we can move swiftly to the next step. There must be an end before there is a beginning and the time has come for mine. A new era is about to begin. People in their 30’s, I am leaving you behind to join the 40’s. This is my last weekend with you. No big deal, right? Monday morning I’ll wake up, if God allows me to, ready to face a new decade.
I would love to write about life in the 40’s but I have no idea what that is like. Nevertheless, I can talk to you about my 30’s. The 30’s was a great decade for me. A lot of things happened in 10 years. I completed a masters and a doctorate in education, raised a beautiful girl and a handsome boy who made me the dad of a teenager. I went over the 15 year mark of marriage what makes us, my wife and I, semi-pros in the marriage and parenting thing. If that wasn’t enough, I also began my art career in this decade.
Becoming 40 this year means that I lived longer in the previous century and the previous millennium than in this one. I’ve seen the evolution of cellphones and video games. I was there when ‘taping’ sound projects meant exactly that, before the computer came in. I survived Y2K and 2012 and nothing was as bad as people said. I lived through the last 5 presidents of the United States of America, and 3 popes. I also lived in 2 different states.
How is it going to be in the 40’s? I don’t know. I live one day at a time and so far I made it through almost 14,600 of them. I do know that the future glory will be greater than the first and the best is yet to come. There are plans and goals ahead and many adventures to face but the journey is what matters.
I began playing with vines, leaves, and the figure resting within in a new relief. In the process I remembered this old sketch. I didn’t date it but I believe it is about 12-15 years old. It seems like that image was in my subconscious waiting the right time to reveal itself.
The new collection is building on those elements. This new piece not yet casted or named is among the first pieces to integrate the elements of the sketch. The past and the future come together. It is interesting to see how it develops. It is my hope to have a new white marble collection ready for show in the fall of 2015.
The New Adventure Begins
Today the new adventure begins. New experiences can be very scary but others can be very exciting. Our new adventure is more of the second without taking away a little of the first. For many years our daughter has been asking for a dog. We could not have it back were we used to live but we managed to let her have a hamster who is the baby of house. Tommy has been with us for almost 2 years. He has his own Instagram account, is potty-trained, and takes naps with us. We learned to recognize when he needs the bathroom, when he is thirsty, when he is hungry, and when he just wants to cuddle. He even recognizes when we call his name. Yes, I’m still talking about the hamster.
This was the deal. We promised our daughter that as soon as we moved to a place where dogs were permitted we could get her one if she demonstrated good care of Tommy. She has been amazing. Today we are picking up our new family member. His name is Percy, a 7 months old shih tzu we have never met. I guess online dating took a very interesting turn. We are all very excited to meet Percy. I think it is going to be a great experience for all of us.
One thing we can learn from our daughter’s experience is that “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.” (Luke 16:10). We all have to jump on doing great things and show what we are capable of in a larger scale that we get the chance too. Maybe we need to start small and be faithful and responsible in those little things. Our hard work will be rewarded in due time. Certain sacrifices can be blessings disguised.
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