Welcome back.

Lucas Daniel McManus
b. September 20, 1994

Lucas Daniel McManus

Lucas Daniel was about a year and a half old when I finally put him down on the ground. “If you want to get from here to there, from now on, you’re on your own.” Lucas skipped creeping and crawling all together. He went straight from laying helplessly on the floor to running. He wouldn’t stop running for another five or six years.

Lucas is an adventurer. He went on his first white water when he was about 6 years old. He cracked up the entire crew when upon hitting the first rapids he began to sing the Indiana Jones theme at the top of his lungs. He hummed it for practically the entirety of the two hour trek.

Lucas is a dancer who lit up Urban Mosaic, our celebration at the nightclub, when he jumped into the dance circle and started street dancing. He was six. I didn’t realize it at the time, but learned quickly that he was an Urban Mosaic legend. Once when I had coordinated a party on the roof, the worship leader saw Lucas dancing behind the crowd and started chanting, “Go Lucas.” It caught on to the crowd and suddenly Lucas raised his hands and ran through the center aisle to the front like Rocky Balboa, where he danced.

Lucas is a singer from his infancy. Once I was pushing him in the stroller and stopped to talk to an acquaintance, he started humming the theme to Titanic. It was a bit of a shock to hear such a complete melody coming from a baby. It could have only been more dramatic if the baby had had a beard.

Lucas, his brother and sister, and their spanish teacher in Barcelona.

Lucas is funny, warm, sensitive, physically intelligent, and a bit mischievous. The only exercise I get these days are my daily afternoon soccer matches with my son, Lucas. He’s still young enough to lay on my chest when we watch movies, and to kiss me goodnight. These days will end all too soon.

Happy Birthday, Lucas. Of all the eleven year olds in the world, I choose you. Our home would not be as happy, as filled with laughter, as interesting without you.

into the mystic…

Dad

September 20, 2005
Los Angeles, ca