Getting It Done Right

A New Favorite Picture – Stariata (Grandpa) Gorenć with K’s cousin Alex

Over the last couple weeks since returning home from Europe, I have been in a bit of a creative funk. I haven’t created much new work after several months of posting blogs, videos and photos nearly daily. I was in a groove for weeks, but since coming back I have largely been silent.

Largely, it is because I’ve been working on several larger and more personal videos about my family’s  recent trip to Europe. We met so many of my wife K’s relatives (aunts, uncles, cousins, family friends) and heard so many stories about her parents and grandparents that I’ve been racing to capture and edit the various encounters as short films while I still have a feel for what happened.

As much as I hoped that I would be able to complete the edits of our trip within a few days of returning, the project has started to drag out. I have several clients that I put on hold during my travels, my daughters started school this last week, and I’m trying to be productive on all the things that got pushed aside this summer. Also, I know that it is important that I get these videos right and that I present each as an honest story of our time together. I have (literally) hundreds of shots to review, color-correct, and incorporate into a narrative structure without making a 4hr monstrosity. It’s tempting to push it off.

I know for both my career (and my general sanity) that I need to return to posting daily videos. I’m yearning to allow my creativity out and present my experiences and adventures in short 2min films each day.

But, I can’t. The moment I shift my focus is the moment these family films become an adandoned project. I know it, K knows it, and you (probably) know it too. Because, it is hard but important. And though I would love to shift to a fun and easy activity, I need to keep at this and get it across the finish line. Because sometimes it’s worth it to get something done right. 

A New School Year Begins

Photo by Jed Villejo on Unsplash

There is something so wonderful about your kids finally returning to school. I know, as parents, we’re not really supposed to say that, but life is so much simpler when everyone gets up at 7am and leaves the house. Yes, the crush of afternoon activities starts again soon, but out of chaos, there is structure. Perhaps the structure is like a rusted iron maiden, but it beats the weeks of disorganized and semi-delirious children lying around the house. 

Thank you, School Year. As both of my children are in high school, I have a limited number of years left to enjoy these moments, but like pumpkin spice lattes and too-early Halloween decorations, you signal the changing season. And before I know it, you’ll be done and I will have to figure out a more effective way to keep my children from spending another summer lying on the floor watching Netflix on their phones and creating dirty dishes in the sink. 

The Semi-Crazy Genius of Jet Lag

It’s been a couple days since my family returned to the States, and we’re all feeling a bit of vacation-withdrawal; that combination of accumulated sleep deprivation, longing for far off shores, and nervousness on returning to the working world.

But, there is a silver lining to all of it. Jet lag, usually terrible, can suddenly feel light and open, as if your brain suddenly decides it doesn’t actually need sleep, and would prefer to hallucinate for the foreseeable future. Those moments are filled with not-quite clarity, not-really peace, but  an almost drug-like experience of your body, mind and soul all whizzing about, trying to decide which time zone they actually belong. 

It feels a bit like being on a spirit journey, or being a bit drunk. Of course, it helps if you’re finishing a vodka tonic when this is all happening. The drink gives all the various parts of you something to focus on while you touch the imaginary elephants.

39 Hours

Photo by Yolanda Sun on Unsplash

We arrived home on Monday evening at 5pm after 19 hours of travel. That morning we had started at dawn in Stuttgart, Germany, drove to Frankfurt airport, flew to Heathrow and then to LAX and then spent an hour in traffic back to our home. 

It’s Wednesday morning at 8am. I’m back at the airport. In the proceeding 39 hours, I have answered emails, paid bills, did laundry (so much laundry), took my daughter to dance class, and slept (a bit). 

Our trip to Europe was fun, but now it is time to make the donuts.