My friend who used to play GI Joe action figures with me just told me had became father to a baby girl today. When my eyes transmitted the information to the brain, I jumped a little in my seat. He added a picture of his newly-born diamond and himself hugging on a bed, and my mind time travelled to the mid 80s – rendering a cute picture of my godfather, who will be a very successful man in his future, smiling as if I were his new firstborn son, holding me in my parents' old house, my father - a product of the late 50s - sitting on a very old-fashioned sofa behind, his collared shirt is open and the chest hair celebrates all that is good in this decade and looking so cool like you don't give a fudge. Me myself, I am crying - but you can't really blame me - they just messed with my small manhood.
Nostalgia runs in my veins. I listen to songs and imagine what was happening when the song was recorded. When it was released. How people felt when they first spun it on the record player. Every song is a story, every lyric - an entire world. i had a relatively big fight with my dad yesterday and here i am witnessing the beautiful natural process of bringing babies to the world. my friend looks at his little bundle of joy with loving eyes that only a fresh father can have. I can talk about how fucked up my life is, how I have no real talent and skills that fit this quickly-evolving and very brutal job market. I can talk about the pain of feeling less than others all my life. I can talk about how I dream about having a wife. But instead, I choose to be happy for my friend, genuinely.
So i just listen to "Living in the Past" by Jethro Tull and transfer myself to a flat in Tel Aviv in April 1986. Ian Anderson's enchanting flute kicks my heart and the sweet gentle guitar sets the nostalgic tone. This song was recorded 2 years after the summer of love in 1969, when my father was 12 years old - I bet he sometimes thought of how being a father will be like. Fast forward 17 years, and the thoughts become reality in the quiet Tel Aviv flat. He has no idea how many disappointments this little cute baby is going to bring into his life in the next 37 years, but he will always, always, love him as strong as he can. Because that’s what dads do, they love their children without condition – and unconditional love is probably the prettiest thing in this world, existence and universe.