Danny ChaiLong boring entry, but tangentially related to kids, which everyone always asks about, so maybe you’ll stick around. Doubtful.
No, not about to have any, but definitely thinking about it and when the right time is, because there’s no real reason not to and what with my niece and Karen and whatnot, it’s on our minds. You know, literally every married couple we know told us to travel before we had kids. “You’ll never get the chance again” they said. Do it now while you still can.
I took that to heart. Maybe too much I think. Like, I basically wanted to travel every single chance we got, working around Jieun’s school vacations. So we went to Europe and Korea this summer. Also ended up going to Seattle, Chicago and Telluride this year. I had wanted to go somewhere for Thanksgiving also, maybe Hawaii. Just wanted to take every opportunity we possibly could to go somewhere.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think it had become an idol in my life, something I was irrationally overvaluing. So much so that if I found out Jieun were pregnant, I think I would have been disappointed at how it would disrupt our travel hopes. And there’s something deeply wrong with that. At the very least, runs counter to the Biblical notion that kids are a blessing.
My favorite band is Out of the Grey. I think some people find that odd and random, and it sort of is. But there’s something about music that can completely capture the feelings of a time and place, so that whenever you you hear it you feel the person you were, a time that was. Out of the Grey is that for me. Not for a specific time in my life. I dunno what it is, but something about how their music is and when I started listening to them is such that now, listening to them evokes this overwhelming sense of mood. In a good way.
Anyway, they also have a great ability to pen a thought and they wrote this one song I love, So We Never Got To Paris. (It really is a fantastic song, both musically and lyrically. Unfortunately, pretty much the rest of that album is relatively sucky.) Anyway, the lyrics:
So We Never Got To Paris
Young lovers, without much
Save each other, isn’t that enough
Paint the future, a little day by day
Making plans with no regard for what might come our way
This cup fills up so quickly
There’s so much on our plate
Between the living and the learning
Some things must wait
So we never got to Paris
And found the café of our dreams
But our table holds a whole world of memories
No, we never went to Venice
And strolled the streets alone
But we built our worlds together and we got the best of both
There’s still wonder in our eyes
But we see each other in a different light
Yet the future isn’t always clear
Now the question is where do we go from here
This cup fills up so quickly
There’s too much on our plate
Between the living and the dying
Some things must wait
So we never got to Paris
And found the café of our dreams
But our table holds a whole world of memories
No, we never went to Venice
And strolled the streets alone
But we built our worlds together and we got the best of both
This cup fills up so quickly
There’s too much on our plate
Between the living and the dying
Some things must wait
So we never got to Paris
And found the café of our dreams
But our table holds a whole wide world of memories
No, we never went to Venice
And strolled the streets alone
But we built our worlds together and we got the best
We may never get to Paris
And find the café of our dreams
But our table still will hold a world of memories
If we never get to Venice
And roam the streets alone
We’ll hold our worlds together and we’ll keep the best of both
There’s so many lines I love in this song. “Between the living and the dying / Some things must wait”. They don’t travel the world, but their “table holds a whole wide world of memories”. “We built our worlds together and we got the best of both” (worlds). Great lines.
Anyway, the message is pretty clear. They had always dreamed of going to Paris, but it never happened because life got in the way. But that’s OK. They didn’t get memories of Paris, but they got memories of life together, and that was more than enough. A poetic love song.
And that speaks to me now. You know, if Jieun and I never get to travel again, I think that’s OK. Don’t get me wrong. Traveling’s a great thing. Everyone that can do it should take advantage of the opportunity. I would love to travel more. But yeah, there are more important things in life. I guess what I’m saying is, travel is no longer a reason for us not to have kids anymore. Not being able to travel anymore is really not that big a deal.
Not that we’re about to have kids.
SN. They actually did end up going to Paris. A family field-trip, as they homeschool their kids. Which is another fascinating (not) topic for another time.