Through Grandpa's Eyes

These photos, of my lovely older daughters with their infant sons, captures for me the essence of parental love. As all parents know, there is an unconditional element in the love you feel for your children. This is hard for non-parents to understand. I always feel honored when I get to meet someone's parents or someone's kids. The bonds between them, even when tattered, convey an intimacy that no other type of relationship can approach.

Love for another adult, for example, is a passing emotion. Hate can last longer, but it shouldn't, because it is so destructive.

But when everything else grows blurry, and you sense your own physical form is transforming back into the dust from which it came, the fact that you reproduced, bringing new humans into this world, replaces all other thoughts and feelings. Money? No emotional resonance. Possessions? Ridiculous. Politics? Not even worth mentioning. Your career? Fine, but forgettable. Even, if you are an artist, your art. You cannot take it with you, so you realize that all you've created is only for others.

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Wow! Here in San Francisco, old-timers always warn that warm weather is earthquake weather. We just experienced a temblor here, as I was writing this post. It was sharp but short. I'm gonna guess it was about a 4.4...

Let's face it. Twice that strong and these would have been my final words.

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