Thought for Food

And this one makes my heart hurt a little. Me and my not-so-baby sister exactly 10 years ago.

Editor’s note: handkerchiefs were big in my world. And that top was backless, save for 2 spaghetti straps. I am so, so sorry, Dad & Shelley. Forgive me.

This one’s sane at least: my parents & I at my high school graduation.

Nice ‘stache, Dad.

May 2000: Oh don’t mind me just pretending to drink water from a dry bird-feeder while wearing a matching dress and handkerchief. 

(The worst part is this photo ended up in my high school graduation announcement. And I put it there.)

Nineteen years ago today my dad married Shelley. I don’t have any photos of them together on that day — but perhaps it’s fitting I post one of her and me. I may not have taken vows or signed a certificate, I may not have even been in the double-digits yet, but it was as important a day for me as it was for them: it was the day we became a family.

If my nerves were any indication — I stood by my dad’s side during the ceremony, biting my nails to the quick — I understood that they were doing this in part for me, that Shelley was making a lifelong commitment not only to my dad, and that I would bear responsibility for the success of their partnership and our family.

It wasn’t always easy — it took me a few years before I was comfortable with Shelley adopting me — but that day marked the beginning of the greatest commitment I’ve made in my life to date.

I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: I learned all I know about love from them. I thank them for that lesson every day I wake and see this wonderful, complicated person whose life I share. I thank them every time I speak or see or think of my beautiful Gena, the product of their love, the missing piece.

Thank you! And congratulations.

Today I had lunch with dear family friends, Uwe and Sonja, who are visiting from Berlin. I promised to post the photos immediately for my parents (hi Dad! hi Shelley!). 

Smartypants me picked a place near the Highline, which they were much impressed with (ok, so it only occurred to me that we were 2 blocks from the Highline after we sat down to eat but I still get to collect the crackerjack tour guide points right?). I tend to forget what an extraordinary experience it is. It was made with such thought for how people “move through space” (as Andrea would say), and it shows.

PS: Their daughter is a real, live actress (she’s the blond)! Cool, huh?

Guillaume Mazille, photographer (via tragos, findout)

The third species I fell in love with, after kitties and ponies and before elephants, was the gray whale. When I look back on the two years we lived in San Francisco I remember big, California-size adventures: hiding inside red woods, tide pools teeming with fat anemones that pulled away from my touch, elephant seals bellowing their mating calls, and whole days devoted to whale watching. Hiking higher and higher, searching for the best vantage point, straining into the binoculars, scanning … scanning … scanning … until — the puff of steam, the humpback, the tail! The tail!

It was even better from sea. Oh how I loved to get on a boat and go! On one unforgettable trip that took us off the continental shelf, my dad, poor queasy dad, was in the back “feeding the pelicans” while me and my sea legs did a jig every time another species was spotted: blue shark! Sea lion! Orca! Whale! Thar she bloooooooows!

Sade, “Babyfather” (via Caille)

This goes out to all the good dads. Looking at you and you and you.

Oh child don’t you know?

Your daddy love comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Not gonna lie, this makes me tear up. I don’t think I can express what my dad has meant to me. Actually, maybe I can. Do you love your parents very very much? Have they loved you with all their hearts, given you a lifetime of patience and support? Ok, now imagine that all that love you gave and got came from just one of them. That’s something like the intensity.

So to all hardworking single parents — don’t worry that your child will want for love. Yours fills the room, every room.

Happy birthday, Shelley! I love you sooooo much.

The card I painted won’t get there in time so here’s the teaser. :)