Veteran's Day

I understand what beard love can do to a woman's skin. I recently grew a 1/4 inch sports beard and it almost ruined my marriage. Not to mention, it revealed to the public that I'm not quite a man, as it was less of a beard and more of a grouping of spaced hair patches. Your skin will get used to it. Skin figures shit out and makes sacrifices for the greater good of the body. The important thing is that you got a little cheek time in.

It's veterans day here in the US and Caleb doesn't have school. As a result I don't have work. Dana has a busy work day and has to leave town tonight for a meeting tomorrow in St. Louis. I'm glad to be able to spend some alone time with him, although we'll miss Mom and It'll be sad tonight when Caleb gets sick of me and starts asking for her. Dana's a sweet patient Mother and I'm just his favorite toy.

I drove over the hill this morning to try to get him a flu shot. Traffic was light so I took Laurel Canyon. Caleb asked to listen to The Wiggles and I told him the live performance on KCRW of "Stars" was The Wiggles. That seemed to work and he settled in, playing with his hair and watching the side of the road as we wound our way towards Sunset Blvd. It had been a while since I'd been to that part of the city. Caleb's old day care was in West Hollywood so I used to make that commute through the canyon daily. I got nostalgic for those olden times. Those glorious golden times only a handful of months ago. That's the way Los Angeles is though. The city is so spread out that if you move, get a new job or stop hanging out with someone you develop a different relationship with the city. I'm currently two timing Santa Monica and Sherman Oaks while occasionally making out with Studio City. Hancock Park, Hollywood, Los Feliz, Silverlake, Echo Park, Atwater Village and Downtown Los Angeles are all old flames that still own a couple of my CDs and my favorite hooded sweatshirts. Bitches.

At the doctors office, after a hunt for the perfect parking spot, two elevators, and a lot of reassuring Caleb, the nurse spotted his never ending nose run and sent me away. I guess you can't get a flu shot when you already have flu symptoms. Caleb was pleased to leave without being poked and prodded. Since I was already in the city near third street I decided to go to Joan's On Third, or as I described to Caleb, "the cookie store". I do that with him so he understands what's going on. When I go to the gas station I tell him, The car is thirsty so we're going to "the car juice store". When we go to Starbucks it's "Daddy's coffee store".






At the cookie store, I ordered while Caleb went to town on a sample plate of bite sized bannana bread pieces, his mind trying to calculate the amount of potential sugar in the store. At a nearby table a group of women mutter, "so adorable" about Caleb and I felt proud to be his dad. I was probably Caleb's age the last time a Woman called me adorable. We took a seat outside and the french waiter ruffled Calebs hair while people on the street smiled as they walked by. It was as if I had a cuddly chimpanzee with me. If I was by myself my table would go unnoticed. Maybe someone would assume I was an out of work aspiring actor/douchbag. With Caleb, I was a dashing young father eating a cookie with his adorable son.