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flex capacity

Lookit that happy family.  The dignified grandparents.  The pretty young wife.  The giant finger monkey.  That’s my girl.

Today was going to be a quieter day.  I had lots of work to do and Marjorie was going to take it easy, maybe do some baking, hang out with her daughter.

Avery decided to work on her lung capacity for most of the afternoon.

Not that I’m complaining.  Healthy lungs are important.  I just wish (a little wish) that this sort of thing didn’t have to go hand in hand with seeing how long she could stay awake.

Ah, but she’s my bunny.  We got to spend a lot of time together today, whatever the reason.

Hey!  My Aunt Janet sent Avery a hand knit pink Australian wool sweater and booties set.  Gorgeously crafted.  She might be wearing them in time for Christmas pics.  Spring, for sure.  Stay tuned.  And Aunt Janet – thank you so much!  They’re beautiful!  The little ribbon laces on the boots!  Cute overload!

And speaking of new clothes in the mail, my mate Miguel and his fam sent a bib and t-shirt that she’ll definitely be wearing this spring.  “DJ’s Girl” on the shirt and “Eat. Sleep. Mix” on the bib.  Perfecto adoriablo.  Hugs and love to you guys.

Everyone’s generosity has been overwhelming.  Avery wouldn’t have gone without, but with all the gifts from all her fans she rides in style, yo.  I should be taking more pictures.  I will!  It’s just tricky to catch her wearing just the right outfit, awake, content, and relatively unwriggly all at the same time.  Patience.

Patience.  Ha.  Anyone holding their breath waiting for pics from the honeymoon has long since died.  Somebody should call somebody to check in on them.

Patience.  Ha.  I want to shoot the feature script starting tomorrow.  It’s ready!  We need a producer.

Patience.  Ha.  I did not think it would be this tricky to find an agent.  Maybe we are being too picky?  Send me your referrals.

You know how water piles up behind a dam?  And when the dam goes, it goes kablooie?  Around here, we are feeling like there’s a new high water mark every day, inching toward that bright red line at the top.  Things we have been lining up for years are going to start turning over soon.  We’re pretty sure we’re ready.  Pretty sure.  A nice… measured… release.

Meanwhile, every day is full, with Little Miss Peppermint at the center.  Oh – something in Dada broke this morning.  We got her back down by 7, and I figured I was up.  I wasn’t.  I went down too, and apparently I could not be stirred until just after noon.  I guess we have established that Adrian can do a broken five hours sleep a night for exactly one month.  Marjorie is much smarter.  She goes to bed around 9:30, so she’s got a few hours in the bag before Avery stirs – which is when I’m usually going to bed.  I will endeavour some learnings, and get my silly butt to bed earlier (starting tomorrow night?).  The writing partners meet tomorrow at 10am.  Can’t sleep through that.  Too much water behind the dam.

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Avery Peppermint becomes the first American Taverner

American Avery

Avery Peppermint becomes the first American Taverner

Weird.  My daughter is an American.

Not bad weird.  I love a lot of Americans and I have a deep appreciation for this land of possibilities.  I used to commit a lot of energy toward everything that’s wrong with America.  A lot of that is still here.  But so am I, and I’m doing alright for myself.  So while there may be a lot that’s broken (hello, health system) and a lot that is painfully out of balance (hello, financial system) but it would be hypocritical to claim it’s all gone to hell.  Any American who says it has hasn’t spent much time in a third world county.

But yes, given who I am and where I’ve come from, philosophically speaking, it’s weird to see her name on a New York birth certificate and attached to a social security number.  Of course, it’s totally awesome that it says “Official Business” right above where it says “Peppermint”.  I bet, if there are any real people still working in Social Security Administration, that will bring them a smile.  Nice.

I think she will have the best of both worlds.  A wealth of opportunity and choice.  I’m really excited for her.  I think, as her parents, we carry a big responsibility in making sure she experiences some of that choice.  Advantage tempered with perspective.  Her mom and I have both traveled, both studied some culture.  We have some sense of global community.  It’s going to be important to share that with her.  When you’re not only in the States, but in New York City, it’s easy to feel the world revolving around you at the epicenter.  That said, New Yorkers have a reputation for being more liberal, more globally aware, than much of the rest of the country.

Did you catch the 2nd Presidential Debate this evening?  President Obama showed up for this one.  Guns blazing.  If the event had gone on much longer they may have come to blows.  Awesome.  For me, it’s about time the Democrats started swinging back.  I just wish it didn’t have to be a dirty fight.  Still, if you keep showing up to a gun fight with a sternly worded letter… I digress.

Let’s just leave it at how very lucky Avery Peppermint is, and how it weighs on me to help her have some sense of that.  Not tomorrow, mind you.  Girl’s just figuring out how to smile.  One step at a time.  Such as her first step.

Meanwhile, the Taverners senior joined the New York Taverners (that always includes Marjorie, for anyone keeping track) for a long walk up 5th and into Central Park.  We explored around Rock Center and cursed the scaffolding obscuring St Patrick’s, and we appreciated how so many premier brands have to have a flagship store on 5th or they’re just not premier.  Like H&M.  Apparently.  Yep.  And how Swatch is right across the street from Rolex.  And then Mother/Gramma needed to go inside the Tiffany store, naturally.  I visited the Frank Gehry ring I’ll never buy.  Dad/Grampa and I paused to admire the improved Apple cube.  We were denied permission to enter by the ladies.  Boo.

Central Park is huge (though technically not as huge as Stanley Park).  We’ve been in there a dozen times and still haven’t seen more than half of it.  And we’ve tried.  Keep getting lost.  So we aimed to just give my folks a sense of it.  The “Central Parkescence”.  We saw some horses, and the wet pavement that will soon be an ice rink.  The lack of ice demanded a response, so we had ice cream from a vendor.  We passed the Sheep Meadow, and eventually made it to the Bethesda Fountain.  We were all about done with walking by then, and that’s only a quarter of the way up the length of the park.  And we only saw a bit of that quarter.  Call it a micro-metaphor for my parents’ first visit to New York.  There’s just so damn much of it.  Avery saw none of it, zonked out as she was in the Baby Bjorn.  Just awesome, that thing is.  We took some pictures as we went, but y’all are going to have to wait til tomorrow.  This daddy is due for bed.  Should get a good 15 minute nap in before Avery wakes up for her first meal of the day.

It was a gorgeous day!  I kinda paid for it this evening – working for the last six hours on graphics for CB’s new site.  But the day was great.  My family is great.  Life is great.  After you read this, say within the hour, tell somebody you appreciate them.  Pass it on.

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