Lucky

In 2013 Doug and three of his colleagues were awarded the Science and Technology Academy Award for their work on Wavelet Turbulence.  It is a method for producing the effect of greater detail in fluids without the huge computation and time involved in actually simulating all of the physics of that greater detail.  That's my layman's understanding of their work.  It was a contribution that had been getting a fair amount of use in the CG effects for fluids in movies such as Avatar, Monsters Vs Aliens, Hugo, Transformers and others. 

Doug invited Ethan and me to attend the ceremony with him in Beverly Hills.  It was pretty exciting. As far as I could tell, Ethan was the only person his age in attendance. He looked so handsome in his rented tux. He was most excited about the meal, walking the red carpet, and seeing his dad accept his award. When Doug, also pretty dang handsome in his tux, went up on stage, Ethan proudly looked over his shoulder at me sitting beside him, smiled and softly said "There's dad."  His eyes sparkled. When, in his acceptance speech, Doug thanked me for my support over the years, Ethan looked over at me again with that same look in his eyes.  

Supporting Doug in his work was not something that came naturally for me early on.  I worked at. When we first got together, I was incredibly self-absorbed.  To be fair to myself, Doug didn't really understand what I was doing either. Through our friendship, we grew together. We learned about things outside our own experiences by accepting each other's very different interests and motivations for creating.  Doug wanted to understand the world around him.  I wanted to understand the world inside myself and others. Yet, in accepting each other's differences, we came to realize how similar we actually were. That, for me at least, was pretty exciting. And enlightening.

After the award ceremony, Doug, Ethan and I headed up to Santa Barbara to visit with Doug's former student and the first author on the Wavelet Turbulence paper, Ted Kim. While there, we took advantage of exploring the beautiful coastline - the soft sand beaches and all of the offerings that washed up on shore. Doug was captivated by certain rocks he found that had perfect holes through them. We spent that first day together exploring the water's edge and a bit of Santa Barbara itself. For the following two days, Doug gave a talk at UC Santa Barbara, and had meetings and meals with people in his community. 

Ethan and I returned to the beach each day. Ethan loves beaches. He loves sand - running and jumping in it, kicking it up like a cartoon trail of smoke generated from his speedy movement, punching it, building mountains and villages, then running and jumping on them like a meteor from the sky. While he was doing all of these things, I was combing the beach for treasures. It occurred to me that Doug had not saved one of the stones he had found so interesting the day we had explored together.  So, I decided to find a couple for him. As I searched the ground, I reflected on how deeply grateful I was to have him for my partner in life.  I felt, and feel every single day, so blessed to have him for my friend, for the father of my son, and for the love of my life. I found two stones. This was one.

Once Doug returned to our hotel that night I eagerly showed him the stones I had found for him. He smiled and thanked me as he rolled them around in the palm of his hand. We both wondered aloud what had made those holes. Later, I learned from a friend on Facebook that these stones with their perfect holes are considered lucky. And, that just seemed so wonderfully suiting to me.