When I was a kid my aunt bought me a Voltron toy. This wasn’t some cheap plastic model. This was the real deal five metal lion jam. I never told her how much it meant to me for her to find and buy a toy like that. The lion made me feel like she really cared. She knew I was into Voltron and went out of her way to bring me a piece of joy. That is the kind of thing that made Aunt Darlie special. Recently Netflix restarted the Voltron series. It had gone through previous iterations, but this is the first that felt like a story. This is the first that my kids connected with. My eldest son started watching season one with me and then he watched season two on his own. I’m currently watching the season by myself at his request. He wants us to watch the third season together.
There are a handful of moments in my life where I feel that connection between past and present, where the wheel of Ka turns fully and I know I am passing something real forward to my children. Voltron might just be a TV show, but it meant something to me as watching it with my first born means something to me. I recognize that Beyblade is his Voltron and this connection we’ve formed with my show is something he gets to pass on down to his kids in the way they’ll interact and be a family.
It is easy to forget the positive moments and impacts you have on your loved ones when the negative is so present and compelling. Thich Nhat Hanh says, “I have noticed that people are dealing too much with the negative, with what is wrong. … Why not try the other way, to look into the patient and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?” I intend to be more mindful of the positives and make those things bloom.