yeah I definitely always wanted to have kids. A deciding factor was that I think I didn’t want my name to stop with me. Also I have come around to the fact that like I try really hard to not I try really hard to be a good person & do the right thing & try to think about the world & think about the things that I do & so I think that I’ve learnt a lot. I think I’ve learnt enough to have to be able to teach somebody these things & hopefully create like.. They go into the world & think about things & try to like learn from the things that I’ve done as well as like the things that my partner does so maybe we make the world a better place by having someone who is better than me hopefully & better than my partner hopefully you know what I mean? I also really feel like there are a lot of shitty people making babies too haha. So. So I feel a responsibility I mean like I probably have been a shit person at some time in my life. I try to be a good person so in that I feel that there is a little bit of responsibility to try to populate the earth with good people. Having him in San Diego is like tough.. It can be tough & really shitty. But. You know? Like my partner she is a beast at being a Mum like she’s like I trust her complicitly. Just hard emotionally.. Like if she sends me a video of his first like giggles it’s like a massive punch in the heart but at the same time it is like the best thing you’ve ever seen in your entire life but it’s also like a little bit crushing that you’re not there & if things are hard for her. Like if baby Daniel is like not sleeping very well or doing what babies do & she is having a tough time.. It is hard because I can’t really help that much. Apart from pep talks. Well.. I don’t think I feel that different. But. Like in my line of work being the skate shop the skate shop guy we have like kids coming in & it’s not like.. I’m not their Dad. But. They they start coming in when they are eleven & some of them are like sixteen & then even the dudes that are in there like late teens when we meet them. The skate shop is like the hub for the skate scene right? So these kids come in like with weird kid questions so you start to feel this like like not like role model but maybe a sense of responsibility for these kids. You don’t want to want to teach them to steal or to beat people up or whatever so I’ve sorta feel that more so with my kid but that feeling isn’t that different to what I’ve already been feeling for the last ten years that I’ve been working in skate shops. But one thing I do feel different about is.. I fucking cry all the time at movies! Haha. & also I dunno maybe I felt compassion for young people & now maybe I feel even more compassion for young people. But I’ve been ready for a kid for a lot of years so. Having him has not been this crazy culture shock. Plus I’m fourty-one! Now I am just like.. Finally! He’s here!
Faz is a new father, skater, skate mentor & owner of UPS Skate Shop at Central Park Mall.