journal features

seven kids, six parents

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Toronto, 2013.08.30

We were outnumbered at a get-together this evening with Elias's family and Manami's family ('round here we identify families by the first name of the first born, for whatever reason—I suppose it was probably a protocol invented by our own first born). Seven kids, all under ten and probably with an average age of four. Slightly noisy, but fun. We had roll-your-own spring rolls and lime margaritas.

Meanwhile, my "registered" University application parcel is in something called GBLALA.

rand()m quote

Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.

—John Gardner