Tag: Fatherhood

Categories
Lessons Life

25 Short Lessons from 25 Years of Adulthood

Photo by Christopher Pierznik

When does adulthood begin?

Scientists say that, biologically, adulthood doesn’t truly begin until 30, but socially, culturally, and legally, it’s 18. You’re free to leave the nest, make your own decisions (and mistakes), and take control of your life.

I turned 43 in March.

It’s not a milestone birthday by traditional standards — we Americans love numbers that end in fives and zeroes — but if 18 is the age when we become adults, then that means I’ve been a grownup for a full twenty-five years. A quarter-century.

While it often still doesn’t feel like it, I’ve compiled a list of twenty-five things I’ve learned in the past twenty-five years.

Continue reading “25 Short Lessons from 25 Years of Adulthood”
Categories
Greatness Hip-Hop MLB NFL Rap

Bo Jackson and Lauryn Hill: Legendary Even Without Longevity

Some people are too talented to be confined to just one lane. 

Vincent Edward “Bo” Jackson was the rare two-sport athlete. He could have been a Hall of Famer in both baseball and football. 

Lauryn Hill was the rare two-discipline musical artist. She could have had the greatest career as both a rapper and a singer.

They also shared several other traits in common: reaching incredible heights; colleagues accusing them of being difficult; focusing on their families; and, above all, not being interested in living up to the outsized expectations created by their early acts of brilliance.

Continue reading “Bo Jackson and Lauryn Hill: Legendary Even Without Longevity”
Categories
Christmas COVID Fatherhood Health Life Parenting

A Very COVID Christmas

via

“I ruined Christmas!”

The tears burst from my nine-year-old’s eyes as she blamed herself for the ramifications of a global pandemic that has lasted for three years. All kids go crazy for Christmas, of course, but my daughter is certainly in the highest percentile of Santa fanatics, so having her holiday plans dashed was especially difficult.

Continue reading “A Very COVID Christmas”
Categories
Writing

My Best Writing of 2021

This is the post where I lay out the best things I wrote this year. Maybe, in a year like this when my productivity was lower, it might include everything I wrote. We’ll never know (don’t check).

Continue reading “My Best Writing of 2021”
Categories
Learning Life

The Gift of Being Forgiven

photo by Christopher Pierznik

I was recently listening to a podcast and the closing question was “What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?”

The guest had a great answer. Did I?

Continue reading “The Gift of Being Forgiven”
Categories
Career Children Fatherhood How I Work Life Parenting Work

Children Are the Best Time Management Tools

via

I thought I was good at managing my time, but having children has made me so much better at it.

That may seem counterintuitive. After all, children suck up all of our time. The moment they finish eating a meal, they’re asking for snacks. They need diaper changes and baths. They’re constantly pulling you somewhere to color or play or read to them. They need to be driven to practice and doctor appointments and friends’ homes. They create an incredible amount of dirty dishes and dirty laundry. They make the house look like it’s been ransacked and looted. They are agents of chaos.

They also want all of your time all of the time.

Continue reading “Children Are the Best Time Management Tools”
Categories
Books Children Fatherhood Parenting Reading

Our Nightly Family Reading Time

“Children reading by lamp light” (Oil on Canvas), by Knud Erik Larsen

A household with two working parents and two children consists of many things but is largely defined by two: routine and chaos.

Continue reading “Our Nightly Family Reading Time”
Categories
Children Fatherhood Life Parenting

A Return to the Terrible Twos

A Dispatch from the Trenches

via The New York Times

“Having a two-year-old is like having a blender without a lid.”

— Jerry Seinfeld

This is a dispatch from the war. I’m writing this from the trenches, in the heart of the conflict.

After what has felt like hours of intense battle, the rebel soldier has deployed her ultimate weapon, the one that is unleashed when all else fails: standing in the center of the kitchen, screaming at the top of her lungs as droplets of saltwater jump from her eyes.

What could have caused such a reaction? What did the oppressive totalitarian government do to the people to cause this emotionally-charged attack from the rebel?

Dinner was served.

Continue reading “A Return to the Terrible Twos”
Categories
Writing

My Best Writing of 2020

Everyone knows 2020 was not a typical year. In fact, it was probably the weirdest and most stressful twelve months most of us have ever experienced.

Some of the items I wrote this year were in direct response to what was happening in the world – both in macro and the micro sense – while others could’ve been published any other time.

The biggest change to my writing routine was my output – or lack thereof.

Continue reading “My Best Writing of 2020”
Categories
Children Fatherhood Life Parenting

Thoughts on My 2nd Child’s 2nd Birthday

My second child, my second daughter, turns two today.

My first, the oldest, is an eight-year-old that acts like she’s 14, and since there is such a large gap between number one and number two – for a very, very, very, very good reason – the past two years have been a refresher course in infant and toddler life.

Continue reading “Thoughts on My 2nd Child’s 2nd Birthday”