My cat and I both have very large pupils. That's not relevant to the rest of the post. Just something I thought you should know. :)
Tomorrow is my dad's 80th birthday. I'm not sure I know anyone else my age who has a dad whose quite as old as mine. My dad had me when he was 51. That means that I have three half-siblings who are in their late 40s, early 50s. That blows my mind more than Dad being old. Dad's always been old.
So I knew I was going to write him a poem. At first, I thought I'd write a poem titled "What Makes a Life," but given that he's a tiny bit (and only a tiny bit) sensitive about this whole aging process... I decided that sounded too "looking back because there's nothing to look forward to" about it. Then I got the brilliant idea (thanks to mandie!) to make him a book using the poem as the text, and pictures of him throughout his life as the imagery. After 6 or 7 hours of labor, it is finished, ordered, and printing somewhere (thanks to the powers of
Blurb). And, I am SO PROUD OF IT! I have had a love for putting images with art ever since working on a film in high school. I am actually surprised I didn't think of combining my poems with pictures until now. Lucky for Dad, he gets the first book. Clearly, future versions will make me famous!
Oh, and I wrote the poem around a slightly less morbid title: "What Makes a Man." Fingers crossed he forgives me for getting it together late (it will arrive about 2 weeks after the official birthday). We did technically celebrate the birthday in August with all the family. Which he reminded me of a week ago when I asked what the plans were. I'm hoping that the finished product is worth the wait. :)
I have had a great weekend! C and I had a great date night on Friday night. Saturday we had a lazy, romantic morning, and then went off to workout/work/be social. I was invited to see Paul Taylor Dance Company perform. Ohh, MAN, were they good! Three pieces, all totally different. All very beautiful and interesting and hard.
To continue my cultural enrichment, today C and I had comped tickets to the Symphony. We were both prepared for a struggle with falling asleep, since we usually tend to lose steam about halfway in to symphony concerts (if not earlier...). And, we have enough on our plates that we were kind of grumbling about having to go. We were SO wrong! The theme was technically Tchaikovsky, but really it was fantasy stories. Romeo and Juliet, a moving tribute to a composer's late younger brother, and a ridiculous violin-solo led piece from Bruchs. Engaging, compelling, and all of the pieces told a very easily visualized story. It was magnificent. I felt as though each of the composers was speaking a very personal truth through the hands and mouths of the symphony musicians, intended just for us. To to it all off, a very kind symphony patron took pity on us and bought us a coffee when she heard us talking about how we didn't have any cash, but really wanted caffeine.
So, the end result is that I am super happy, but I have not worked the number of hours I was supposed to, so I'm going to go eat dinner and then see what I have left in me before I keel over and need sleep. Good thing I am taking Thu and Fri off for the holiday (and since my mom will be in town!). Happy Turkey Day if I don't see you before then!
