I was watching a documentary about creativity and abstract illustration when it occurred to me.  There are certain similarities between being a parent and an artist.  So many elements happen just as they might despite your best efforts toward control. Then again, maybe that’s just me?

Paint By Number Plans
by Michael Romani

As you struggle to do your level best
To stay within a steady frame
What's in a name?
Might you have guessed?

That each time would be 
Different than the rest
In the name of impartiality
You wish for the same and they might all be best

Like scenes lifted from a mockumentary
We attempt to direct the roles of our family
Always pushing to hard from either side
Sometimes its best to just go along for the ride

Hoping against hope for a glimpse of reality
Instead you find yourself absorbed by surreality 
Crashing down on concrete authenticity
When the best of life is found in the obscurity

Outside of paint by number moments
Is where the best of life ferments
Not observed but lived in experience
These are the fragments that make the difference

All the little tweaks and all the planning
Add up to less than the need for understanding
That its the uncontrolled ball being juggled
Which reaches the souls we've loved and cuddled

It's in these moments with all the cards tumbled
Where the ginger snap cookies have all crumbled
These are the moments of family and you can't sketch that
You're just profoundly happy as you smile and catch that

(c) May 7, 2017  Michael Romani