What a kaleidoscope of emotion this past week has been over here. If you remember back in April… at my youngest son’s birthday… I told you that we would be here… at my oldest son’s birthday and I would do my best to emotionally keep it together leading up to the big day. Pretty mind blowing that we are here already. Time… it is undefeated in the duality of racing along like a bullet train in one instant and feeling like I’m looking up at Jack’s beanstalk in the next. But either way… here we are. If you remember… I discussed the anxiety that I feel leading up to these milestone events and how I have been actively working on dealing with those emotions. Well… I am here to report that I have been doing a fairly good job. There were instances of… “I hope she answers…” and “I hope he knows I would do anything to be there…” but overall… positivity and gratitude were driving the car this past week. Let me put that car in reverse and dive into why I think this is the case…
“Daddy! Daddy! Do you know what a Labubu is?!” my oldest son excitedly asks me on the phone about a month or so ago. Strangely enough… I had just seen something on the news about this new craze out of Asia that had to do with dolls and as soon as he said the word “Labubu”… my brain summoned this memory and I remembered that these were the name of said “dolls”. “Yeah buddy. I think I do actually. I just saw something about them on the news but no idea what they are… what are they?” I said. “O.M.G. Daddy. Okay… they are these super cute dolls that come in packs of 6 and they each have an emotion like Serenity or Loyalty or Joy or Hope and you don’t know which ones you are going to get because they are mystery boxes and I want the blue one so bad… it is Hope… I want it so bad. And I really want them… so maybe… like maybe… this could be a birthday present? I want them so bad Daddy. Like so bad” he says. I can’t help but smile listening to his sales pitch. And… of course… I immediately decide that I would cut off my left hand to get this boy these Labubu’s. But… “reality check Zach… you are in prison… how the hell are you going to manage this one?” I think to myself. We finish our phone call and my mission begins…
I head into work the next morning and see one of the officers outside his office. “Mornin’ man… question for you..” I say. “What’s up Hollywood?” “So… I was talking to my son last night and he was telling me about these things call “Labubus”… do you know what they are?” I ask. “Hell yeah. I buy and sell them actually but they are super hard to get… everyone wants them right now…. it’s crazy… check out a site called PopMart… only place to get them” he says. “Perfect. Thank you” I say and recon 1 is a success. Now with this information in pocket… I know that this is a specific type of job for a specific type of person so I reach out to him and explain the situation. He tells me the same thing that the officer told me about how popular they are right now and how hard they are to get but that he will see when the next “restock” takes place (Yes… there are zero in stock anywhere so you must be on the website as soon as they re-stock in hopes to snag one of these coveted creatures). I thank him profusely and now we wait.
Sunday rolls around and apparently there are two “restocks” at noon and 5pm so he tells me that he is going to set an alarm and try to make it happen. My tribe is next level amazing. I get an email that night… no luck. Apparently by the time he clicked on the item to add it to his cart and then go to check out… Bam… they were sold out. “Sh*t… now what do we do?” I think to myself. But I get a follow up email with a possible solution. We used to find and buy exclusive pairs of sneakers on an app called “GOAT” when I was out in the real world and apparently GOAT also is in the business of buying and selling Labubu’s. The cool thing about GOAT is that they “verify” their products for authenticity so we know we are working with the real deal. “Fantastic… GOAT it is”… fast forward a few days… I open my email and see the magical words… “Success!”… we have successfully acquired a mystery box of Labubu’s from GOAT and the next part of the birthday mission is complete.
I now coordinate with another member of the tribe to pick up the Labubu’s from my tribesman… combine the mystery box with the card that I sent… wrap the whole package in beautiful birthday wrapping paper and mail it my boy in time for his birthday. Which leads me to the call that I had with him this past Friday…
“Daddy!! I got a box in the mail today! Did you get me the Labubu’s for my birthday!? O.M.G… if you did… Ohh man… I’m going to scream!” he says. “I don’t know buddy… you’re just going to have to wait and see” I tell him. “Can I open it now with you on the phone?” “Of course… lets do it.” He gets his brother and Mom together… and begins tearing open the present… when I hear the loudest… most joyous… most heart warming squeal any ‘about-to-be’ 8 year old boy could let out. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Daddy! Thank you!” My heart is just beating out of my chest with joy… having the privilege to experience his joy in the closest way that I can these days. We bask in the glory of his and his brother’s Labubu amazement for the remainder of our call and I hang up with a smile on my face.
As I walk back to my bunk… a flood of emotion hits me. I am just overwhelmed with gratitude for my tribe out there. I started thinking about the fact that generations long ago (and some in other countries today) raise their kids in the community. There used to literally be a village that would all play their part in bringing up the younger generation. And when I thought about the success of my boy’s birthday… it would not have been possible without my village. I needed to lean on them to find the gift and purchase it for me… then coordinate with each other to hand it off… get it wrapped and get it in the mail in time for it to arrive at his house. All of this time and effort so that I could call and have the absolute gift of participating in the opening and experiencing the joy in his reaction when he received it for his special day. It just wouldn’t have been possible without their support and I am beyond words grateful for them…. every day… but especially on days like today.
Cherish your moments out there with your tribe. Allow each other to genuinely participate in one another lives and be open to lending a hand when needed. Human beings are community creatures… we crave the inter-connectedness of our village… embrace it when it presents itself. I know from personal experience that we have the inclination to not want feedback or input from our parents or our siblings or any else in our tribe but our loved are so unbelievably valuable and it took me being taken away from them to open my eyes and my heart to this undeniable truth. Embrace them and accept their help when it is offered… we really don’t know how lucky we are to have each other… until we don’t.
I would do just about anything to be out there with my boy on his birthday but reality will not allow that right now. So…I take comfort in the fact that our bond has grown with every birthday cake that he enjoys and I don’t plan on that changing any time soon. This bond that I share with him… this relationship that we have… it wouldn’t be possible without the support of my tribe out there… I am so grateful for you guys. And trust me when I tell you… if that birthday scream that my buddy let out when he laid his eyes on those Labubu’s says anything… he is unbelievably grateful for you guys as well.
Stay Healthy. Stay Active. Stay Connected.
Happy Birthday Buddy… I love you more than you could ever possibly imagine. Just look up…and I’ll be doing the same.