A Different Kind of Circle

Dear Daughter,

It has been a long time since Papa wrote on your Blog, although we have done so, so many things since the last time. We have been to Texas and New Mexico this summer and did many Papa and Buglette things that I will try to write about soon, even though they are already becoming distant memories since we are back in Belgium and you have begun school again. You will be learning new things and we will be able to share that magic of learning together.

Papa is also always learning new things, such as this weekend.

Papa met a very special person named Kazuaki Tanahashi, but he likes to just go by "Kaz," which is much easier to remember.

He is an artist whose specialty is the zen circle, or "ensõ" in Japanese. It is an imperfect circle that reminds us of the imperfections in life. In other words, the sooner we accept that things will not be "perfect," then we will live a much happier life and will be able to learn without fear.

I hope you get to meet Kaz one day. I think you would really like him.

But, Papa got the next best thing and bought one of his works so you can see how magical the ensõ is. Here is a picture for now until Papa can pick it up.

Remember, as you tell Papa, "nobody is good in everything, but everyone is good at something..."

I Love You,
Papa

Teamwork!

Dear Daughter,

Well, it took many hours of patience and teamwork over the course of three days after school, but we finally did it! We built the Eiffel Tower, and we thought that Big Ben was "big"!

I am so proud of how you helped Papa, or perhaps how Papa helped you to work on this project that was not easy and took a lot of patience. Both of us got a little frustrated at times and we had to stop for the day, or we had to figure out a different approach to make it work, but in the end, it was 100% teamwork that got us there.

On to the next piece of World Architecture, I wonder what it will be??

I Love you!
Papa

Picnic in the Park

Dear Daughter,

Yesterday we had a picnic in the park and then you got to play in the big playground.

These are moments that Papa cherishes beyond belief, and I hope that they will be memories that you have when you are older.

It was your idea, and I realized how long it had been since we had been to the park because of the bad weather all winter, so it was perfect.

Thank you for reminding Papa that we need to go to the park, and to enjoy every nice day that we have, so that when the weather is bad, we can at least have the memories of the good days.

I Love You,

Papa

My Buglette

Dear Daughter,

Papa tried his hand at a poem today, because it is your birthday. It is hard for a Papa to put into words the love that he has for his daughter. I hope I got something across.

Just know, you are the most special person in the world to me.

The Buglette

A wrinkled nose, ruddy and broad

Fingers so tiny, rice-grained nails,

Deep blue-green eyes, squinting;

Cotton-capped and swaddled in stripes.

I held you in the sun, to tinge the jaundice,

On my forearm, you slept, like a lemur.
Wrapped like a bug, snugly and calm.

My life changed forever, forever in a day.

The greatest gift for your birthday, you gave yourself,

You were born, my dear, dear child.

Seven years gone by, but I remember,

I remember the moment you made me a father.

I Love you,

Papa

A Very Special Bond

Dear Daughter,

Today is Papa's Birthday, but what is even more special is that we are celebrating yours as well with your friends in the park.

It is super special for Papa to share this day with you and I just want you to know how amazing my life is because you are part of it.

Though it is not your actual birthday (just one more week!), it is a bond that I am forever grateful for in my life.

Here is our Big Ben that we made the other day. A memory that will "stand in time".

I Love you,

Papa

Hello, from England

Dear Daughter,

Papa is in Cambridge in England, and I am in a wonderful cafe called the "Indigo," which as you know is the next to last color of the rainbow, visiting the University here to listen to an important person talk about some very weird stuff about our Universe in honor of a very important person Papa knew many years ago.

Cambridge is a beautiful city, with a river that runs along it, called the Cam. In fact, that is where the name comes from, it designated a Bridge over the River Cam, that someone decided long ago to call it the Cam-Bridge.

It is like the story about where the name Antwerpen may have come from that Papa likes to tell people. Remember the statue in the center that has Brabo throwing the hand of the giant Antinoos in the Schelde? That might be the origin of “hand werpen,” or to throw the hand in Dutch. But, nobody is really sure about that one.

This is also where Aunt Rachel went to school many years ago and maybe one day she can show you the college she went to as well.

I Love  You,

Papa

A Simple Lesson in Relativity

Dear Daughter,

Well, today we went to the dentist to have a cavity filled, and you were super. I was very proud of you and the dentist was too.

They had to numb your gum/cheek in order to fill the cavity, and the dentist told us that you could not eat for a while for fear of biting your cheek since you could not feel it.

As we were walking to the car, you asked me how long "a while" is and I said maybe a couple of hours. Within five minutes, you asked if your tooth was "still asleep," and I said, yes, it will still be a while.

It is hard to wait when something is so strange like your cheek being numb. You were not able to make a "Puh" or "Fuh" sound and that "while" seemed like it would never come. But, eventually, the numbness will go away, but it may seem like a lot longer than it actually is.

So, today, again, you learned a lesson in the Relativity of how Time "feels" to go slower when you are waiting.

I Love You,
Papa