Author: Family Friendly Daddy Blog

2 Comments Posted on Health, parenting, vegan

Nashville Dad Attempts To Give Up Caffeine For Life

September 15, 2013 at 12:56 am , by 

Leave a comment Posted on Nostalgia, parenting, Storytelling

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone

September 12, 2013 at 9:46 pm , by 

2 years, 9 month.

Dear Jack,

They say that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone- that it’s easier to take good things for granted when you’re accustomed to them always being there.

Whoever “they” are, I think they make a good point about life.

I don’t want this to be the case with you. I don’t want to take you for granted.

This may sound morbid, but sporadically, I go to a very dark place in my mind, and imagine what life would be like if, suddenly, you weren’t here anymore.

I do believe in a literal hell. And for me, the dark and desperately lonely place in my mind of a life without you in it, is as close to the literal hell as I ever plan to be.

Yet I force myself to go there. I think it’s important for me to go through that mental and psychological exercise.

It’s almost as if I’m subconciously trying to jinx ever losing you, by doing this. It’s my way of feeling I can control the situation.

Though I know I can’t.

I realize it’s not that easy. I realize it’s not up to me; that every day you’re here is a gift from God.

Maybe this helps me understand why I like the movie, Vanilla Sky, with Tom Cruise, so much. Every time I watch it, I have this greater appreciation for my life being how it is right now.

It’s not tainted or maimed by some big tragedy. By now, I’ve finally had some events in my life that have scarred me a bit, but they haven’t cast a forever shadow like losing you would do.

There is more than one way to say, “I love you.”

I hope you can see that all this is just another weird way to say it.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

Leave a comment Posted on Health, parenting, vegan

It’s Okay To Question Where Your Food Comes From

September 11, 2013 at 11:00 pm , by 

2 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack,

Especially as you become age-appropriate to read today’s PG-rated letter, I want you to always question where your food comes from. After you find out, and you decide that you still want to eat it, then, cool.

But I will always challenge you to question the ingredients and/or sources of your food.

I grew up always wondering what was really in hot dogs. (We didn’t have the Internet or YouTube back in the Eighties.)

Now that I know, I’ve learned it’s actually not as disgusting as what the FDA allows food companies to label as “natural flavoring.”

Back on February 12, 2012 (a year and 7 months ago) I wrote, “Is “Natural” Vanilla Flavoring Really From Beavers’ Anal Glands?”

Granted, it’s not the most sophisticated thing I’ve ever written. I figured many people assumed I was just being a weirdo and/or a conspiracy theorist. But that post has received more Facebook likes than other particular post I have ever written: over 1,100.

Apparently, enough people out there in the world are like me, brave enough to question and investigate where our food actually comes from.

My hero in that field is Vani, A.K.A., the Food Babe. I follow her on Facebook and learned that she covered the “natural” beaver flavoring story this week!

She’s the one who earlier this year helped start that petition to Kraft, asking them to remove the toxic petroleum-based food dyes from their macaroni and cheese, as it is for their products overseas.

Since then, she has caused me to question other things, like what’s really in beer.

The Food Babe has become one of my major regular news sources for information about food and nutrition. (That’s supposed to be the FDA’s job… I think.)

Some may say that talking about this is innappropriate.

But I say it would be more innappopriate to ignore what’s really going on just for the sake of not wanting to be perceived as innappropriate. It seems grosser to learn this unfortunate information and complain that it’s innopropriate, only to keep eating it.

I’m not afraid to ask questions about food. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Granted, I’m not necessarily safe to talk about these things on Facebook. I learned that the hard way earlier this summer when, in an effort to figure out the science behind why my constant sinus pressure and heavy mucus production (of 21 straight years) cleared up  immediately after I stopped eating dairy 6 months ago, I genuinely asked if there is already mucus in cows’ milk when people consume it.

That’s when I learned that politics, religion, and food are in the same category. They’re equally sensitive (and often, devisive) topics.

Still, I’m asking plenty of questions about our food everyday; and for better or worse, I’m learning a lot.

Yes, we’ve now become very serious about buying non-GMO and organic foods as much as possible. We don’t trust our health to corporations and their mysterious science-project types of ingredients.

We have control of the situation… by being brave enough to ask where our food really comes from and what effect it has on our bodies. Then we simply vote our beliefs with what shows up on our grocery bill each week.

Let the free market decide what is too disgusting to eat. Let us be the weird ones, if need be.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

Photo: Food Babe.

Leave a comment Posted on parenting, Storytelling

The Hunt For A Pink Hummer (As Opposed To Red October)

September 11, 2013 at 9:03 pm , by 

Leave a comment Posted on Nostalgia, parenting

A Time To Be Dizzy: To Everything, Turn! Turn! Turn!

September 10, 2013 at 11:48 pm , by 

2 years, 9 months.

Dear Jack,

I remember what it was like being about your age; thinking that spinning myself dizzy in the living room was like the coolest thing ever.

If I remember correctly, my parents would have to warn me to stop; mainly because they never knew what I was about to knock myself into and, therefore, knock over.

Well, that’s what’s new in your life right now. This is your “I want to see how dizzy I can get and still stand up” phase.

Sunday afternoon I watched you get the biggest thrill out of repeatedly spinning yourself dizzy as Thomas and Friends played in the background.

Again, I can relate to what you’re experiencing. That was me about 30 years ago. Now it’s you.

However, I think I killed enough brain cells doing it, that now, I can’t stand being dizzy.

It’s one of the most annoying things in the world, to me.

I get dizzy so easily that I nearly got dizzy following you around to take these pictures of you spinning. (Even just looking at these pictures is making me sort of dizzy!)

It was hard to get a good shot of you because you were spinning so fast!

But you’re a kid. You still think spinning around until you fall on the floor is a fun thing to do.

You might as well live it up, until you get your fill like I have.

Back in the 1980′s when I was a kid, there were such things as merry-go-rounds, which were a playground device that allowed several kids to spin on a moving wheel platform on the ground, while a few other kids pushed them as hard as they could.

Of course, I would always try to jump off while the merry-go-round was going its fastest. And I never got hurt.

I guess, though, some kids did, and their parents sued and won some good money. Because I haven’t seen a merry-go-round in about 20 years.

Oh well.

To everything there is a season. This is your season to be dizzy.

 

Love,

Daddy