Three kids and a dog

The things that matter
London, ON, April 2007 [Click to enlarge]

Quick note from me: I'm in Shanghai. Got here safe and sound late yesterday afternoon, which is exactly 12 hours ahead of my usual time zone (door-to-door: 24 hours). It was an odyssey of a trip, not without its little adventures along the way. I scribbled tons in my notepad, and some of my writings should make their way onto the blog at some point. I'm battling a failing laptop battery and a Blogger interface that doesn't seem to like the Great Firewall of China - it shows up as question marks where the text should be (if anyone has any idea how to clear this, please let me know in an e-mail) - so I'll type quickly.

Thank you all for your supportive comments. I think I've cleared most of them onto the blog, but because of this interface issue, the process has been arduous. My apologies if anything got munched in the process. Please keep the happies flowing: it means so much to me and my family.
I just Google Talked with my family. To say that it was magical to just speak with them from around the world would be an understatement. It was a joy to hear their voices. Sometimes, technology can tie us together in remarkable ways: it's our challenge to find the magic. I just did.

I'm sharing this image/entry with you today because this is what I'll carry with me in my head as I go through the paces of a new day in a fascinating place. In the end, it means little if I don't have them in my head. And in my heart. Enjoy.

Every time I look at this picture, I see and feel something different. Maybe it's the maternal way Dahlia holds onto the dog. Maybe it's the way my father's hand is draped around Zach's shoulder. Or perhaps it's Noah's sweet little-brother look that reminds me so much of my wife's childhood pictures.

Either way, I often find myself replaying moments like this, staring at the picture and letting my mind wander at the layers of gooodness that reflect back at me. Moments like this tend to slip into the past fairly quickly, so pictures help keep the memory front and center in my mind.

Your turn: Lexus is currently running an ad campaign that revolves around the central theme of "a moment." What kind of moments matter to you?

One more thing: You'll notice the time stamp says 5:31 a.m. on May 8th. That's local time in Shanghai, some 12 hours ahead of Eastern. I'm using the local time stamp because it means that it's already my birthday. And thanks to the vagaries of the time zone system, I hereby declare this my first 36-hour birthday - it started at midnight Shanghai time, and will continue until midnight Eastern. Fair compromise with the time zone gods, wouldn't you think?