It is not really the number that has me preoccupied, it is everything
else. Just trying to find some common thread between all the busy stuff in my
life!
It is only a local magazine
with a readership of 3000 households; however I feel like I have achieved a
milestone of sorts with 6 feature articles under my belt. It has been a
wonderful learning experience. The best part has been this one particular
reader who doesn't receive the magazine and gets it specially delivered by her
daughter. My mom has my one and only copy
of each issue. I know for a certainty that she has actually read all 6 of
them. My mom has been the toughest on me all through my life and she is also
been the most proud of each and every feature I have written. For all that she
has done for me, I am happy to reciprocate in a small way.
If there is pleasure in life, it needs to be balanced out with some
pain.
So, here comes the sob story
part of this post! Last week, I had the second part of my dental surgery done
and it left me with 6 functional teeth tucked away in the right side corner of
my mouth - 3 on the top and 3 on the bottom. Eating has been a miserable
activity. This is one life lesson I will not forget too soon. Most likely, Hans
will need braces and I already feel the pain he will feel. However, the pain will be Hans' and I hope I can adequately support the
boy.
And that's mostly what I have
been doing lately … supporting people. After hosting the Fun Fair twice with my
then friend G, I had to take a backseat this time around. It is Hans' last year
at his public school and I want to support all succession planning. It
has been a frustrating couple of weeks. I
got to learn that I am a better doer than an enabler. There have been days
I wanted to tell the current Fun Fair team to step aside and let me do it!
There has been a crazy amount of hand holding and spoon feeding. I am learning
to breathe and let go.
The 6th day of the 6th month
is not just the Fun Fair; it is also my dad's 69th birthday. I need to put that in perspective. This
is a man who has always made me feel like a million bucks. So, on that day, I
will enjoy the Fun Fair, thank the new team for a job well done and go
celebrate my dad.
I will write 6 or more
features in the future and I will have a fully functional mouth next week. The
pleasure and the pain will continue their intertwined and complex appearances
in my life. It will all be temporary each and every time.
"six six six is the number of the beast" are the lyrics from
an Iron Maiden song my brother listened to all the time as a teen. Sometimes,
we would equate that to my dad as he was born on the 6th of June, 1950. Not
everyone will understand why! But the man is far from any such connotation. Life is actually a beast and it is
wonderful to experience its inherent beauty through people like my dad.
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