Thinking no vineyard walk today. Just pop my head out, stand on the deck for ten seconds or so then come back in to write an article. On what. How about how I learned and am still learning from my son to pack a lunch everyday rather than drive down Dry Creek Road to be ripped off by a same-named store. Paying like $7 for a “poor boy”. Seven dollars? And why the fuck do they call it a “poor boy?” You have to be a rich prick to afford one. Jackie said this morning like he, “Me and mommy, we pack our lunches, Dada! You need to pack you a lunch!” He gave such instruction while putting crackers and those pre-packaged oranges into his colorful and car-decorated lunch bag, zooming back and forth throughout the studio’s bottom floor. I could only watch and assure myself that this scene had to be captured, put into the book. And, I needed to make myself a lunch, pack something, so I did— pb&j, those pretzel goldfish, and some trail mix I bought weeks ago but hadn’t even opened yet.
This morning, this whole day, about learning and appreciation for what I already have in place as a writer and business owner. ‘Mike M’. He creates. That’s it. So simple. So promising. So if I’m to teach anything in this article, or share a useful idea, it’s merely what I punctuated just now— USE WHAT YOU HAVE. If new elements and character constituents develop, you accrue new realities, then wonderful. But, don’t wish for or be down about what you don’t currently hold. You might as well be in costume, pretend to be something else. You’re You, and that’s all you need to create, be creative and all the justification for tireless positivity and cavaliering creativity.
What am I going to be for Halloween? Jackie’s going to be either a Ninja Turtle, or Batman (again), or some Star Wars somebody. I know he’ll want me to dress up, so what do I do, what do I go as… I’ll think about it over lunch, over my 2 pb&j’s and pretzel fish— or pretzeled goldfish, that funky trail mix I bought at Whole Foods. Laugh to self, “I’m such a dad… That’s such a dad lunch.” And I am. That’s what I embrace and what I work from more than anything. Coffee, thoughts, view, me, my reality, vines out there looking back at me telling me to type faster! Tell your story quicker, and with more fury, more life! Too many standalone pieces throwing themselves at me. Need a walk, need a closeup of that vineyard, just some steps, breaths, thinly crisp Dry Creek oxygen that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.