Rewind And Rewind

To my son Tommy,

At this young age, when you watch a show that was interesting and entertaining and exciting to you, you want to immediately recapture that moment.  You beg to watch it again, and again, and yet again.  To compound the problem, you are starting to get proficient at the remote so you have successfully rewound your program to watch on your own.

I really can't fault you much for this position or logic.  It make perfect sense that when you find something you enjoyed so much that you would want to watch it again.  It is an adult concept that things can't be as fun the second time around.  Obviously that doesn't hold true for four year olds who can get the same or better enjoyment the second or third or fourth time through.

As you grow up this becomes a much tighter rope to walk.  On one side, if you stick to what you know, you will miss out on so many new experiences.  When you are young, you need to see what else is out there.  It may lead you to a new love or it may lead you right back to your old love with a new appreciation.  Either way your horizons broaden and you become more worldly.

On the other side, if you are constantly seeking thrills in something new, you could be missing out on the contentment and simple satisfactions of life.  This path has led many down some dark alleys of life seeking the new thrill.  Life is very cyclical and from time to time can seem like you are watching the same movie back to back to back.  Some have sought refuge from this repetition in a life of vice and cheap illegal thrills.  Surprisingly though it puts them in an even worse cycle of repetition that is extremely hard to break.

So where do the answers lie?  Somewhere in between in a land called moderation.  You need to venture out and enjoy new experiences using common sense and forethought, but at the same time you need to hold on to those tried and true experiences.  You need to jump from the nest but only when the time is right and only if you know how to get back to your roots and never lose sight from whence you came.  As I think about the balance between trying something new and enjoying something old hat,  I think for a lazy Sunday with the entire house nursing cold like symptoms, today we will forget balance and we will just watch the Jungle Book 2 for a third time in a row while we snuggle on the couch.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo