Neil, Stand Up

Entries from July 2009

Walking Along

July 17, 2009 · 2 Comments

Kate went back to work this week. Taking care of two babies alone  requires a great deal of energy and patience. For all of our sake, it’s a good thing they’re cute.

Bodhi’s maturity and independence has made the transition quite manageable. After taking his first step several weeks ago, he started walking this week. He is also signing a lot and takes great joy in being able to communicate with us. He is affectionate, kind and playful.  I remain so grateful to have the opportunity to spend so much time with him everyday.

Sasha smiles when we talk to her.  She is very pretty and I kiss her often.  For the first few weeks of her life, she was quiet, sleepy and very low maintenance. Then, she entered of phase characterized by protracted sessions of maniacal screaming. She now seems to be settling into life a bit and I am very, very fond of her.

Courthouses are nasty, depressing places. I do my best to inject a modicum of kindness and compassion into this festering cauldron of conflict and social dysfunction. Often, inspiring and heart-warming results ensue. One of my clients, for instance, spent forty years of his life addicted to meth. I met him in jail and told him that everyone’s already counted him out and that the easy thing to do is just do his time, get out and start using again. But I also told him that he’s got a lot of life to live and that we only get to be alive once and that there’s too many beautiful things in this world to waste away in prison, on meth. One hundred days of sobriety later, he attributes his recovery to my words of encouragement, and those contained in the Bible.

Of course, not all stories are this warm and fuzzy. Many of my clients are lying assholes. And this is precisely why I delight in being able to come home to this by midday.

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An American Tragedy

July 7, 2009 · Leave a Comment

I am deeply saddened by MJ’s death. Not only was he my first idol, but it breaks my heart to have witnessed such a genuine soul collapse under the weight of his towering fame and be so harshly judged by a cruel and jaded culture.

Mostly though, after watching his daughter bear her soul to the world, I am so sad that three sweet little children lost their father.

I have no doubt that MJ’s music will continue to move and inspire the world forever. I just hope that his message of hope, unity, love rises above the unfounded and ignorant assumptions that darkened the last years of his life.

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Bodhi holding Sasha

July 6, 2009 · 1 Comment

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