- 4:12 PM, Sunday,
June 19th, 2016:
-
- Strange couple of
days. I've spent the past 48 hours shaming my friends
for not being willing to spend $1000 on a ticket to
Game 7 of the NBA Finals in less than an hour.
-
- Who am
I again?
-
- All of this is
tongue-in-cheek because I know this is an outrageous
amount of money... but goddamnit, Game 7s in the
finals are RARE. Very rare. This is the 5th in the
past 28 years? It just doesn't happen much. And it's
Lebron attempting to bring a championship to OHIO and
it's RIGHT HERE in California... AHHHHHH.
Don almost jumped with me, but in the end he figured
Oakland would riot if Cleveland wins (Cleveland will
riot, Don) but yeah, Oakland... I guess
I get it... kinda. Ugh. I'm not going by myself.
If we could get someone to watch the kids me and Talya
would TOTALLY go, but her mom is out of town...
so... it just didn't happen. I was there man.
I had the credit cards out on stubhub I had them
IN the basket, ready to go... but just couldn't
get anyone to jump.
-
- Oh
well.
-
- Now, the reason
I'm starting this entry with that story is that it's
also a sign of the times. Much of my single life was
like this: totally random spontaneous trips doing
incredible things and shit just working out. I adored
that life and will be dragging my family along with my
spontanaity soon enough... but it's not time, yet. 2
and 3 are not the ages you pick up and go camping in
the woods on no notice. Ya gotta get them a bit more
prepared for the insanity... but the rewards of doing
those things are incredible. I saw Obama's
inauguration, with my own eyes. I was in Africa
on a whim. They are the memories that fill my life
with such richness that I don't mind getting older.
So, I do lament the fact that I'm not living one
of those insane moments right now in Oakland for which
I truly believe LeBron is going to do the
unthinkable and bring the Cavs back from down 3-1 and
win a Game 7 on the road. The trade-off however is an
embarassment of riches. It's this video...
-
-
- The love
I feel for my daughter is growing in a way
I didn't expect so soon. Then again, I guess
I just didn't think much about it, but for
whatever reason... this was the day our relationship
kind of shifted. I was now a kid having fun like a
kid. It had been 30 years since I was on a slip
and slide and I wasn't her dad right then: I was
just a kid. Giggling with her and connecting on a
different level. We made the video and I edited
it with her next to me and she laughed and laughed.
She stopped me once to turn my head and look at my
face and smile AT me. No words, just this knowing
smile like even she felt different now. She's
now a little kid, not a toddler and as she grows up
your connection becomes more complex. I knew that was
coming, just as I know at some point she will
HATE me. Maybe not, who knows, but I kind of feel
like it's part of being a good parent: you're not
always their friend and have to make choices that will
piss them off. She's certainly strong-willed now, 14?
Fuckouttahere. She will not like me.
-
- Right now however,
she thinks I'm the funniest person in the world and is
legitimately excited when she gets time to play with
me one on one. Oh and Cam was just in an awful mood
today and had to take a nap. Wasn't purposely
excluding him, he just wasn't into the water slide.
But that's the OTHER part of all this: when you have
two kids you're in this "BALANCE WAR" that makes
it difficult to have those one-on-one moments and that
is indeed what made this such a special moment for us.
I could focus 100% of my attention on her and
just play. It wasn't lost on me that this was Father's
Day at all. I remembered my first Father's Day
building that wall in 2013 around the front yard so we
could even have a moment like this. And suddenly
you're here and your baby isn't a baby. It's one of
the greatest feelings ever and it's why The Journey
will continue to be so special to me: I am FORCED to
document these moments, make the video, write the
entry and remember this little girl who will grow up
in a few clicks of this website.
-
- Alright, it's
almost game time, I think Cam will enjoy watching me
freak out even if he doesn't understand why. Talya is
completely into it now as well, which is fun. And not
just a "being nice" into it, I think through
me she's seeing the human side of sports that most
people don't get. We watched Golden State with awe
this year even though I'm rooting for LeBron and
Cleveland. She knows the history of 73-9, she knows
what LeBron has been through (made her watch 30-for-30
Believeland last night so she gets the whole Cleveland
thing)... and she's as nervous as I am.
THANK GOD. It makes it 100 times more fun when
those around you actually get it. And man did she pick
a good time to marry someone from Ohio. OSU has been
amazing, now Cleveland might get one?
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit.
Alright, LeBron's will
COMING AT YA...
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- Adam
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