There's always children

I've been told to write about something happy. I'm actually quite happy, in my daily life. My daughter wakes up happy. My son wakes up a bit fascist, but he's cute. If they're happy, I'm happy, and they luckily are. They're safe to play and eat and have fun. This is the most basic human right, a childhood, and we're lucky to have it.

When you have kids it's crazy because you're on their trip for a while, and they're basically wasted all the time. They're little drunk people. They want to party, they say crazy shit, and they throw up on themselves. They're super fun, but they're also weeping and screaming a lot, sometimes in the middle of the road.

Kids are also learning all the time. It's a wonder seeing the world again through their eyes. They're fascinated by animals. They're extremely curious about the natural world, and they make you go outside. They believe in Santa Claus, they love stories. They tell themselves complicated stories as they play.

In truth, our children teach us as much as we teach them. They teach us what it means to be human beings. They tell us how fundamentally lovable every person is. They teach us actual morality, genuine kindness. And of course they teach us about dinosaurs and worms and unicorns and rainbows and the million wonderful things there are to think about. Things that make us happy.

And children are really good for us in this way. Spending time with someone that loves you is just great, and kids always love you. You may not even deserve it, but from the moment a baby is born, they just love you. They don't know anything else. We are born to love. We, as adults, have to be very responsible with that love.

To be honest though, I spend the rest of the day actively getting away from my kids. My office is a little room hidden behind a bookshelf. I literally go into a secret room to hide from my kids (and work). My wife and I both do, it's essential. You can't be hanging out with little drunk people all the time.

But I do spend part of the day on their trip, and I'm happy. They have no idea what's going on, just as I have no idea what my parents were going through in the violent 1980s, and this is a blessing. To have a child and to see the world as a child, what fun. They believe in a rainbow world where their toys live and we talk about it  every (other) night. So I spent at least a few hours in rainbow world, and it's nothing but happy there. I guess you could say it's my happy place. That's something nice to write about.