Max

This snap is of Max- one of the two beautiful sons my good friends Robin and Paula call their own. He's dressed up for his birthday party, and seeing his picture makes me think of a few things:

1. I'm glad that my friends have decided to have children- I know some very incredible people and the thought of them raising small humans to be big ones is promising-this makes me happy, and I feel a sense of the history that I am a part of- it even makes me feel a little hopeful (I swore off the word hope- along with a vegetarian diet and cuffed jeans- at the start of the 21st century but some things die hard).
2. I've also been thinking a lot about the words community and fellowship. Can you have fellowship without community? Do you need community for fellowship? I think Robin (or one of you other smart readers) may have something to say about these two words, these two ideas.
3. For years I was either Dracula or Darth Vader for Halloween and when I found my Dad's Back in Black cassette tape and I first heard Hell's Bells everything just fell into place. Later years would usher forth an unbridled penchant for such theatrics as those put forth by Motley Crue, The Misfits (and all the other Danzig projects), all the way to Nick Cave (my apologies).
4. Why didn't I ever think to dress up for my birthday?
5. Those are the whitest feet I've ever seen!

And finally, for good measure, here's a picture of Robin and me from way back in 1996. The pic was taken at a hotel in DC when a group of us went to see/hear Billy Bragg. That's the first time I ever heard Smoke- a band that fits perfectly into the aforemntioned list of the dark and dreary.

That's Stephen coughing, and Susan standing as still as she could.