We Are What They Grow Beyond

Parental Pride is an ongoing, ever surprising thing to me.

Not surprising in that I don't expect to be proud of my little girl, but simply put: when she achieves things that she has worked so hard for - seeing her acknowledged by her teachers and peers, well ... I might be a big, scary man in some walks of life. But when it comes to that precious little girl; I cry ALL the damned time.

Without getting too personal (because this isn't her page,) I just wanna say: Papa is Very Proud of his Little Girl today, tomorrow and the day after that. 

I love you, kiddo.

***

Of course, this got me thinking - as emotional life moments often do - about how this is kinda what the purpose of  educating and raising people IS. At some point in our own lives and journey, we should be able to pass on the knowledge and sum totals of our experiences to those in our orbit looking to advance or challenge themselves.

Sure, sometimes that leads to frustration as well. How many times in your life have you offered counsel to a friend or loved one, cautioning them in regards to a decision / action you've personally experienced - only to see them run headlong into the situation and meet their fate.

Irritating right? 

But that's where things get interesting. Because all of the people in our lives have different experiences even when faced with similar challenges. The purpose of our counsel, or our experience is to warn them of potential pitfalls and errors that are possible to make. To give them knowledge and the ability to know they can overcome said challenges when they're met. 

Sometimes, these forewarned individuals rush headlong in and meet a similar fate.

Other times, they take this information and blaze a new way forward. Meeting said challenges and surpassing them. Or even better, finding new ways to resolve them that We ourselves could never have foreseen. Because that was Their Challenge to face, and only They could've done so.

In either case, the point I'm working my way towards making is that all we can ever do with those in our care, is to offer the best advice and support that is possible for them before releasing them into the wild to fend for themselves. 

It's scary. For them and Us. 

But it's the only way forward, and the only way for them to become the People THEY Are meant to be outside of us.

We Are What They Grow Beyond.

And I want them all to be better than I ever was or could've been. 

So, to everyone who is patient enough to want to sit under MY learning tree; whether that's Wednesdays at the Blaze Pro Academy, the number of you who regularly ask me for advice on writing, gym stuff, how to deal with conflicts in your life and more ... I guess I just wanna say, I'm Proud of You All Too.

Take that for what it's worth to you.

It's worth a lot to me.

With respect and humility,

AK

LINKTREE

Ending The Year with Intention

Here I am sitting on my couch in December of 2023. Another year come and gone. Highlights and low lights and more behind me and a whole future of tomorrows ahead of us all.

Like many, I wonder what the future holds.

Unlike many, I think I know what I no longer want it to hold.

I want it to hold less uncertainty. Less self-doubt and recriminations. Less fear.

The last 2 years have been full of personal loss, life changes and other emotional turmoil. I've been so hard on myself in ways and have done everything I can to be a better person, to do more things to make me a better me.

Yeah. Sounds selfish. And it is.

But I want to be a better man. A better father. Better partner. Better wrestler / writer / author.

The trick is, I've been trying to do all of those things at once. And its not easy.

So... the time is now to narrow my focus for a bit. to streamline my online presence. to focus in on the areas that I find the most fulfillment. the areas that I will be the most committed to. 

Because those are the paths that will bring me joy. 

And with joy, will come its own reward.

I'm gonna do my best to be more diligent with my posting. To ignore the noise and to focus on what matters.

At the end of the day, that's all any of us can do.

Stay Tuned for more

Please check the links along the side for my Books and PWTees page. I appreciate all the eyeballs and attention you give me. 

AK

Power of the Light Side

So our friends over at the ForceCenter Podcast have put out a call for those of us within the community to share their thoughts and ideas of how Star Wars has brought the Light Side into our lives. Or how it has  elevated our understanding of things in life via the space fantasy / melodramatic metaphors we find from the stories told in a galaxy far, far away.

Given the things happening in my life right now, it's probably not surprising this is what's on my mind:

Sometime in the winter of 1983 my dad surprised me one evening and said "We're going to go to the movies." While I'd certainly watched movies with Dad before hand - usually whatever happened to be playing on one of the 5 channels available to us over the Winnipeg airwave rebroadcasts -  this was a special thing. We were going out to the theatres! A special trip, just me and my dad to the (locally) famous Metropolitan Theatre in the heart of downtown.

Turns out (spoiler alert), it was a double feature of Star Wars and the Empire Strikes Back. 

Watching on the big screen the adventures, the fun, the fear and the tragedy of those first 2 life-changing movies not only left an indelible mark on the way I look at the world, but created a real bond between myself and my dad. 

It's not an uncommon thing for sons to have trouble connecting with their parents, clearly. My father's upbringing was rougher than mine from a different era. And while he always treated me fairly and with love, I often grew up feeling like he and I were different. That we were interested in different things and didn't have very much in common.

Turns out - naturally - that as I gained life experience of my own that obviously we are very similar. We have shared interests, ideas, perspectives and are undeniably bonded in ways that go beyond our love of "westerns in space that tell family dramas in a succinct, spiritual format."

As such, being able to introduce my dad to the Mandalorian while I was recovering from a minor procedure took me back to being (almost) 7 years old. Watching his eyes light up and his smile broaden as Din Djarin and IG-11 mowed down that town of Child Rustlers in the most sci-fi realization of a classic western shootout I've ever seen committed to digital film was simply magical. Seeing him relive his own childhood in that moment, seeing his mind expand and his imagination awaken because of Star Wars rekindled the bond between us that honestly never left, but ebbed and flowed over time as everything does. 

That afternoon with him was one of the best times of my life.

As I write this my father is nearing the end of his time with us. No bacta tank or teched out mod will be able to keep him from passing on into the Force. But through the tears I am smiling. Because we are meant to grow beyond the paths they lay for us, as my daughter one day will do to me. Obviously there are many other important things that Dad gave and taught me beyond our oftentimes silly space shows, but being able to revisit something he'd shared with me that meant so much to the both of us ... well, it's just another way of knowing that "No one's ever really gone."

Thank you for reading. If my words today have moved you in any way please consider supporting a local Cancer Care Charity of your choosing. For example the good people at the Canadian Cancer Society are doing tremendous work in difficult times to provide help to as many suffering people as possible.

#MTFBWY

AK