It's never too late to be a rock star...

That's what I'm going to tell Zoey on that very first day that doubt creeps into her tiny little oh-so beautiful head. It's never too late to be famous. It just depends on what you're hoping for famous to be. If she wants to be on the cover of a magazine, well, then I guess she'll have a to hoe a certain row, but if she just wants people to see her as something incredible...maybe for people to find interest in her life and become fans of Zoey -- BTW, I love that idea, that we as individuals can have real fans in our lives, 'cause we can -- then that's an entirely different process. I know a little about that one.

I think, when I grow up I want to be impressive...that's it...that's all. I want to do something good. I want to stay relevant. I want to be valuable to someone. I want to discard the stereotypical. I definitely want to live inside of me, not whatever shell of me the world has carved out without consulting me...'cause that's how it works, right? You get to choose who you're going to be, and then the world is going to define you separately, and the challenge is making those two jive or not caring much either way and going out and doing what you want to do regardless. If you can somehow be and do all of those things...rock star. I'm thirty-something years old and I still talk about what I want to be when I grow up.

Now I'm a father, which complicates things a little, but not too much. Now I want things for more than just me. I want Zoey to find a place to live and breathe and dream in that celebrates that very process of figuring out who she is and then becoming really, really good at it. I hope that we can provide that for her...wide eyed wonder and never ending possibility...optimism and trust...faith...acceptance and curiosity...blah blah blathering blah...I hope that we can make a life that provides Zo with a big enough stage to earn some ovations, maybe take a few bows...even if she's doing so in front of an empty room, so long as she feels the need to take a bow, so long as she's somehow earned it then she should. We just want to give her the chance to shine... for us...for herself...for other people. That's kind of all any of us ever really want, a chance to say, "look at me. Aren't you proud? I am."

It's never too late to be a rock star...not if you never stop dreaming of it. We've already bought every record that Zoey ever made, we just hope that she feels inspired enough to keep on making them across the entire encore that is her weaving and wandering life.