Happy Father's Day To All You Baby Daddies Out There

Pablo with his latest art acquisition

Happy Father's Day from all of us to all of you daddies out there. Our day was fun, yet it wasn't the same with Grady in Costa Rica. I took advantage of all the perks of the day, asking Jo Ann to bring me coffee and the paper in bed. Pablo slept in, waking up around 9:30. Pablo wanted to eat breakfast at our fave local spot, Mustard Seed on Hillhurst in Los Feliz.

The walls at Mustard Seed are filled with the work of Silverlake artists, including Mel Kadel, whose art adorns the cover of Dangerbird artist Silversun Pickups' EP Pikul. Today, a couple paintings by one of the MS servers caught our eye. The painting you see Pablo holding above is the one he chose, by Kelly Lynn Jones. It's gorgeous, and adds to his bedroom collection.

In a time like this, it's nice to be around familiarity. The MS staff, whom we've known for years (some since Pablo when he still in the oven) were incredibly sweet. Steven Scott from the bands Irving and Afternoons works there, and surprised us by picking up our brekkie. Totally
unexpected, and totally gracious. I have talked a lot about our LA-as-small-town experience, and our friends at Mustard Seed are a big part of that.

Mustard Seed is like the indie rock/neighborhood clubhouse. We run into people we know there all the time–friends, neighbors, bands. We always run into Obey/Giant mastermind and longtime friends Shepard and Amanda Fairey, and their beautiful daugters, Vivian and Madeline. Amanda asked Jo Ann how things are going, and Jo Ann began to cry. I'm not sure that she wants me to talk about this. But I want to, because it is part of our experience. She mentioned today that the blog sometimes feels like it's all about fun and funny stuff. I agree. I have been favoring those aspects–looking for them–because hope, light and positivity are the fuel that we need to get through this. It's not that Jo Ann's statement contradicted that. I took it to mean that there's more to what we're going through than odd observations about 'Pretty In Pink.' I agree. And I want to write more about the while experience going forward. Even the sad stuff.

For both of us and Grady, the sadness, fear and uncertainty come in waves, without warning. Crying is a useful release of all those things. Sometimes just crying feels like an internal emotional oil change; sometimes crying just leads to more tears.

All that said, we are not without hope. But, let's face it, regardless of how good the statistics and Pablo's actual condition are, he does have cancer. It's not like someone got our pizza delivery order wrong. This is serious business. Sometimes a look in Pablo's eye, or seeing him get frustrated because the DVD player is on the fritz, and thinking 'The damn DVD of Wallace And Gromit is makes him happy and that DVD player better get its act together!' Or the thought, 'Are the tumors getting smaller?' just slams you in the brain with the power of 1,000 Icees.

Fast forward to 4:30 p.m. We went to the Celtics / Lakers game (thanks to Peter and Brie for the tix!) with my cosmic comrade Sean McFarland (more on him in a future post), Francine and Ben. Matt and his girlfriend Seonna and her daughter Tigerlilly babysat Pablo. They all had a great time, coloring, playing swords (translation: Pablo stabbing Matt!), and eating In N Out Burger. Seonna dubbed these two five-year-old rascals 'Mr and Mrs Smith, Jr.' Here they are, in action:
We saw an incredible b-ball game. Sean's cousin Jordan is #5 on the Lakers. I was rooting for the Celtics. It was a rough game, cos his cuz was partially responsible for whoopin up on the Celts!

It felt good to go into an arena. And it felt good to have Matt and Seonna back at the house, knowing Pablo was in excellent, loving hands while we were rockin the bonics, looking for celebs.

Next holiday: Pablo's fifth bday this Saturday!

See you tomorrow.