One of my favorite Dr Seuss books is Oh, The Places You'll Go!. I kind of wish he had written a follow-up to that called Oh, The Things You'll Do! in which our reader is walked through their hypothetical life and shown some of the choices they'll get to make, the causes they'll take up, the projects they'll complete, the jobs they'll have, the people they'll meet and, well, the things they'll do.
As Kelly and I wait for God to reveal his plan for our family, I have found myself steeped in projects. Some of them I've been planning for years, others I never saw coming. For example, I'm currently working on a novel. It's a science fiction story aimed at a young adult audience and it's a story I've been wrestling with for about six years now.
One thing I never saw coming was the podcast I'm currently working on. My friends Loren and I have recorded over thirty episodes at this point and they all can be found at www.moviesyoushouldlove.com or on iTunes. We both went to film school, so we're making our way through contemporary and classic films and analyzing them. It's been a lot of fun, some hard work, and it's starting to pay off. We're growing a little community over there and some really neat conversations are taking place. And it's because of that podcast that I've come to have a small part in the documentary Until We Have Faces.
Until We Have Faces is a documentary from Leslie Foster, another one of my film school friends, that "explores the complexity of violent homophobia in Jamaica and the hope, bravery, and endurance of the amazing LGBT community there." Leslie is now trying to raise the money he needs to finish post-production on the film and I'm doing my part to spread the word (you can read more about it here). This is one of those fights that I would love to have had a hand in ending before my child is in the world -- but even if it isn't, even if we're still fighting this fifty years from now, I'll be proud to tell my little one "I did my best to make the world a little bit safer for you, your friends, and some people we might not ever meet."
Oh, the places you'll go . . . and the things you'll do . . .
Somehow you'll escape all the waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing.
With banner flip-flapping, once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of guy!
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.)
