A took this picture a couple of years ago on a camping trip in the high Sierras with my then-seven year old son. The tree was at the summit of a rugged climb through house-sized granite boulders and was split down the middle by a bolt (or many bolts) of lightning. We made the climb in a building thunderstorm that was nearing full electric glory by the time we reached the peak. "Stay low so you don't get hit by lightning" is what I told my son as I lay on the ground beside him and took the shot from a prone position looking into the storm. I painted this picture of the image on a rainy day back home while my son sat next to me expressing himself on a separate canvas. The name is a reflection of the way I have to parent in order to stay out of the target zone and counteract the bitter selfishness of my son's mother... so as not to highlight the fundemental disagreement with who she is and what she stands for... to hide the secret mission of re-programming my son to truly understand his mother and what she takes from him... without ever saying it... or even implying it... to allow him to find it on his own... to hide my true intentions of being the parent that she is incapable of being herself... of finding a way to correct in 2 months of every year what she destroys in the other 10... of creating in my son the best man that is possible... all while adamantly, albeit discretely, not allowing her to destroy him... or me... in the process... to keep on living... growing... even after you've been hit by lightning.
1 comment:
Wow David this is an amazing blog. For some reason I didn't see this on your blog when I looked before- only the picture? Perhaps you were in the process of writing it when i looked..either way I'm glad I came back. Profound...gutt wrenching...honest..raw....thought provoking...admirable.... You did a great job encapsulating the human part of parenting.
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