Stars bring out the best in you

Last night I watched the stars with more kids - Helson, his sister (Karen), Jenny, and Vati, and it turned into such a good conversation. We basically gather our piece of crap plastic chairs and go sit in the darkest part of town so we can see ALL the stars and I wait with my eyes fixed on the stars and the kids just make jokes and we laugh and I keep trying to tell them, they can see a shooting star if they just have patience and focus! Also the kids like to fake scare me by pretending there's a spider on me so I scream and run away. I am now desensitized to the feeling of spiders on my body...thank you child population of Oidor.

Anyways Helson ended up asking me for life advice. He likes math and drawing. He is torn between being an engineer and an artist basically, and he's 11 years old. He also wants to be a Peace Corps volunteer. How cute is that?

I listened to EVERYTHING he had to say, just sat there actively listening. He talked for a good 5 minutes then I told him, straight up - he's young, he needs to enjoy his youth. With talent, you also have to practice. When he's older, he'll have practiced enough to know what makes him happy, because what makes you happy is what you should do with your life, always. I explained if you're not happy, you won't be a good husband or father, and it's all about being a good person. Choose the path that makes you a good person. Then I tossed a ball to him and we kicked it around for a bit.

I went to bed thinking, "damn am I really that old that kids are asking me what to do with their lives?"

Helson's a very smart kid. I know when the time has come, he'll make the right decision.