A List of Random Things that I Love...

• the way my wife looks so beautiful without even trying - I'm especially glad that she doesn't realize this or she'd never have married me
• my kids for letting me see the world through their eyes on occasion and experiencing a wonder that only children have
• a fall afternoon when the summer heat is long gone but the chill of winter is still just an unpleasant thought for tomorrow
• the near perfect still of the night at 3am when normal people are asleep and the world feels magical and ancient
• the cold of a dog's nose
• that I'm in my 30s and cartoons, Muppets and toys can still make me smile
• the feel of fresh grass under my bare feet
• that I live in America
• the smell of fresh ink when you crack open a new comic book
• the pencil stain on the side of my hand after an intense session of writing or drawing
• anything made by my kids for me
• the fact that some of those things made for me say "world's best dad" when I often feel so far from that praise
• the smell of a book - fresh and new or old and dusty, it doesn't matter
• cleaning my house while singing along to Cat Stevens tunes when there's no one around to hear how silly I sound
• the still chill in the air just before it rains
• that my mother let me be me and never forced me to be something that I'm not - I hope that I can do the same for my own kids
• and the knowledge that someone who is as hard-headed and downright odd as me could end up with the life that I'm living right now