9AM one Saturday in August 18 years ago:

Knock! Knock!

“So…. how did last night’s Match.com date go???” my dad boomed as I opened my door.

“Uh, Dad, she is – here!”, I answered.

Kaiwen peeked over my shoulder to see her date’s father.

“Oh! Wow! That IS a good date then!”, he declared with a broad smile and chuckle.

Kaiwen knows my dad just 12 hours less than she knows me. Our first date went magical and after some time at her place, we went back to my place on Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach. My dad brought my cousin Brandon along for a beach day of lazily good times.

My dad immediately accepted Kaiwen as a dear friend and was generous with his affection and made her feel that she was a member of the greater Canby-Bethkania family on our first weekend together.

That moment alone summarizes my dad.

---

We have not spoken about it publically, but my wonderful, warm father is fighting for his life against fucking cancer. His prognosis is grim, we are racing Ad Astra to get her to a safe port and marina so that we can tie her up and all go see my Dad and spend some time with him.

All of us have to go through this with our loved ones. My heart breaks for my Dad, he is so in love with life and loved his work, and is getting more and more requests for his work to be brought to other institutions. He is so much fun, so thoughtful and full of love for me, Kyle and Max, and Kaiwen is heart broken as she knows my dad just 12 hours less than she knows me.

I am grateful that we have had so many great adventures together - the beaches of Venice, Santa Monica, Topanga, Pt Mugo, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, France, the West Indies and Mexico. He has been such a cool grandfather and have inspired them both in many ways.

Fuck. Cancer is bullshit.

I really enjoy sewing - I will sew until my body hurts.

Naturally, I am surprised that I like sewing, yes we had an old singer cast-iron sewing machine in the house when I was a kid, but the 19th century machine with a massive foot powered flywheel was just a decoration.

But now, living on Ad Astra full-time, fabric - specifically canvas is a central building material for this salty living.
With hindsight, I should have seen sewing coming - I love crafting! In any RPG I play, I really get into crafting. The game we are creating as a family has crafting as the central play loop.