what we want is to be noticed

Last week I was in Amsterdam. 

I loved it.

But, I couldn't be in Amsterdam without paying homage to the book, The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.

I left a copy in the Andaz Hotel.

The Andaz is an awesome hotel, set on the site of the former Amsterdam Public Library on the Prinsengracht (Prince's Canal). I highly recommend staying there.

I left another copy of The Fault In Our Stars in the Stedelijk Museum. The Stedelijk Amsterdam is an international museum dedicated to modern and contemporary art and design… and, you know, it seemed like the kind of place Sarah Urist Green would love.

So, as a family, we were having our own TFIOS spring break in Amsterdam. 

Then we went to the Hermitage in Amsterdam because… art… and the current special exhibit is The Silk Road, and Vv is studying China and The Silk Road… so perfect.

We were admiring the treasures: murals, buddha sculptures, precious silks, silver, glass, gold, and terra-cotta. Then Vv came up behind me and said, "Guess who is in the next room. Your favorite person!"  So I started guessing some of my favorite people. Then she added, "Think, books and youtube."

John Green? She grabbed my hand and pulled me into the next room. And there was John Green on the big screen doing his CrashCourse World History video on The Silk Road… in The Hermitage. Awesome. So we watched it twice!

And, for some reason, the whole thing reminded me of page 281 in TFIOS:

I thought of my dad telling me that the universe wants to be noticed. But what we want is to be noticed by the universe, to have the universe give a shit what happens to us - not the collective idea of sentient life but each of us, as individuals.