I have one son. We named him Christopher and called him Kit. To the rest of the world, he’s known as The One True b!X, and for the past three years, he’s done for the city of Portland, OR and its citizens what he tends to do no matter what community he finds himself a part of — he sows seeds for new ways of thinking, communicating, and responding.
b!X has never been ordinary, and he has enriched the lives of others — including us in his family — more than, I’m sure, he recognizes.
His Portland Communique, which he launched in earnest more than three years ago, helped to open metaphorical windows between the city’s government officials and its interested citizens. Since he started his Communique, a number of other citizen/government weblogs appeared, including some by city officials. He sowed the seeds and they fell on fertile ground.
Today, he announced that his “experiment in citizen journalism” is over.
I know that he’ll stay in Portland, because that city is more “home” to him than any place he’s lived. And that probably means that it will be at least another half-dozen years before I see him again.
There really is only “One True b!X.” He is unique in his combination of passion, integrity, creativity, articulateness, compassion, curiosity, intellectual independence, and lack of self-serving ego.
Was he a challenge to raise? You bet. What he is, is what he’s always been.
More than a year ago, I wrote this about him.
I wonder what I’ll be adding to that encapsulation a year from now.
I think of my grandson, also a challenging child to raise — one filled with a similar curiosity, compassion, articulateness, and creativity. My daughter already struggles with how best to guide him.
All we can do as mothers is “nurture” the positive aspects of their “nature.” And even then they will become who they always have been.
And no matter how far away they move, or what paths they choose to take, we will always hurt for them and hope for them.
If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here today.
Here’s to you, sonb!X. May the next phase of your life be the best yet.