What's Important To Me

My apologies for being late posting my blog this time around. Yet my very lateness ties so strongly into the current topic.

It’s been a pretty full-on week here in the Rowe household. It was the second week of September school holidays, which automatically makes it pretty loud and busy. I work from home, my wife is a teacher and both my sons are at school. So holiday time means we’re all bound together as though we have an elastic band around us.

More on all of that in a moment…

For me, as an author and cover artist (and when applicable, a musician), what’s important to me is to produce the best work I can and be as versatile as possible. Those elements are not always interchangeable, since we each have strengths and weaknesses. And as anyone in a creative field will know, external forces can play an enormous part in our ability to create.

This brings me back around to the earlier discussion about what truly is important [WARNING, WARNING…cliché alert!].

Family.

In the last week, my wife had to go in for an operation. It wasn’t enormous, but it had her worried for a few days beforehand, and understandably, out of action for a few days afterwards. Long term, it will yield an excellent result, but of course, in the short term, these things have quite an impact on a family.

The last week also yielded another important milestone. My 12-year-old son (let’s just call him Monkey Buttocks, since that’s what I call him), had his first date. We realise it’s a young age for that kind of thing, but I was truly impressed. He doesn’t even organise to get together with his mates, so for him to organise a get-together with a girl he really likes is almost incredible to me. Also, given he’s as shy as I am (when not behind a keyboard), it’s an even bigger deal.

The final factor in making my blog late was the fact we attended the Monster Jam event here in Brisbane last night. That was around the time I should have been posting this blog.

Now, I’m not a rev-head at all. I don’t enjoy car racing of any kind really. The Monster Jam events seem, to me, to be the motor racing equivalent of the WWE. And I do not mean that in any kind of disparaging way. It’s a slick and well-marketed event, with drivers of great skill and insane bravery. It’s just highly contrived (and LOUD!)

So why were we there? Well, our elder son (Tall Man or Mister Special) is intellectually-impaired, to the point he’ll never be an independent dude. He’s in his second-last year of school now, and Variety offered his school some free tickets. Now, Tall Man is utterly besotted by cars. Every time we go for a drive he’s constantly prattling in the back seat, telling us what make of car it is, and whether it’s going to work or home. Going for a drive (heck, walking through a car park!) would actually be the perfect entertainment for him. His teachers even use “looking at the road running past the school time” as a motivational tool to keep him on track!

So when the offer came through for Monster Jam tickets, we jumped on board. The show was spectacular, but the best part of the evening was watching Tall Man’s face, and how he loved it.

I’m now even further behind in my work because of all those factors. And I wouldn’t change any of it. If I lose some cover art clients I’ll be unhappy, of course. But it would still pale in comparison to losing those family moments. Because as with nearly everyone, that is what is most important to me.