Hey, friend!

It's my birthday! (well, as you're reading this, I guess it's yesterday, but as I'm writing it it's today!)

Today I am 41. 

I'm the happiest I've ever been.

I'm the happiest with my personal life, my family life, and my professional life I've ever been.

I'm not the fittest I've ever been, but check in with me on my 42nd birthday and I'm hopeful I'll be able to add that to the stack.

So, I'm grateful.

One thing Imani and I have been talking about a lot lately is that the more time you spend on the Internet, the more you're aware of how bad things are in the world (and, if you're in the US, in our country). And those things aren't not bad, to be clear. 

But we're finding (remembering) how important it is to be present in our lives and families and communities, outside of the fears of what's wrong at a larger scale. So we put down our phones, turn off the news, and "touch grass", as the kids say. Get outside, read books together, go to parks, interact with neighbors, visit new places.

It doesn't mean I'm not worried for the future. My wife and kids are Black. Many of our friends and family and neighbors are Black, LGBTQ, immigrants, Muslim, Latin, and so many other groups that are being targeted right now. We can't just put our fingers in our ears and say "everything is fine" when people we know and love are being targeted. But we also–they also, since this is often a lesson we learn from people who are currently targeted or have been in the past–need to give ourselves the grace to be able to enjoy what's good about life.

Imani often points out to me that enslaved African people (and Black Americans throughout history since then) didn't stop loving, singing, dancing, making babies!.. despite being in the worst situations anyone could possibly imagine. Their hope and joy didn't reflect any lack of awareness of their situation, but simply their continued humanity in the face of oppression.

So today we had a lovely breakfast at a bougie bakery cafe in Atlanta. This evening we're going to check out this sort of omakase cocktail situation in a retro bus. When the kids are with us next I'm going to give them huge hugs so long they start complaining. We're getting started decorating for Halloween. Not because we aren't aware of what's going on, but because we're humans and we deserve hope and joy, and no one can take that away.

What Else?