Nostalgia

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Dad Approved: Free Printable Father’s Day Coupons!

June 11, 2012 at 8:20 pm , by 

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The Cheers Theme Song And Being A Parent

June 7, 2012 at 8:57 pm , by 

A year and a half.

Never in my life have I ever watched a full episode of the classic TV sitcom, Cheers. Until about 20 minutes ago.

I just finished the first episode on Netflix. It was simple and warm and charming. I loved time-traveling back to 1982; interestingly, I myself was a year and a half when the show first premiered.

But despite just now actually watching Cheers, I have been a huge fan of the theme song for my entire life.

The way I see it, this “average Joe anthem” written by Gary Portnoy and Judy Hart Angelo is only 2nd to “In My Life” by The Beatles, as far as The Best Song Ever Written.

The intertwining music and lyrics are perfectly melancholy yet hopeful; yearning yet found. What human being can’t relate to this?

“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away? Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same.
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.”

Life is hard. Financial insecurities? I got ‘em. Uncertainty on how my life is supposed to play out? Yep.

Especially today in particular.

But I am blessed enough to come home to a beautiful wife and a magnificent son who take me just as I am. Actually, they take me for morethan I am.

As we all sat on the kitchen floor tonight for some unrehearsed family time, Jack unfolded his scrappy coloring book and pulled out his pathetically worn-out crayons.

He likes to assign crayons to Jill and I as he colors the destined-to-be-a-scribbled-mess pages.

“Dada?” He held up the yellow crayon like a good friend offering a premium beer.

For times like these when my life feels like a clusterfog, I especially want to go where everybody knows my name, where they’re always glad I came, and where I can see troubles are all the same.

Where, as a family, we know whatever happens, we’re in this thing together.

Where everybody knows my name. My name is Dada.

 

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They Grow Up So Fast: Instagramming Life

June 6, 2012 at 9:17 pm , by 

A year and a half.

Yes, it’s a parenting cliche. But it’s so true and therefore I must confront it:

“They grow up so fast.”

We live in the age of Instagramming. Granted, I’m not actually cool enough to have a smart phone to share a vintage photo version of what my kid just did any given moment of his waking hours.

But I see Instagrams all the time on Facebook. Some being unintentionally ironic and uncreative- like a picture of a Starbucks cup. Others, however, are photos of something a bit more relevant and important in life.

Like our kids.

And I think that’s a pretty symbolic concept. Prepare for me to get deep here.

If you’re like me, you spend the majority of your time doing the things you don’t want to, like driving to and from work, being at work, cleaning dishes, etc.

A very small percentage of my life is actually spent doing what I really want to do; which is spending time with my wife and son.

So I constantly carry my camera around in an effort to capture every warm, fuzzy moment I can. Because as I’ve written, these are the longest years and the shortest days of my life; being a parent, that is.

It’s my attempt to magnify the best parts of my life and be able to share them with everyone who cares.

Consider this: We are constantly traveling through time and space.

My best Internet research tells me that since the Earth is always spinning, we are constantly moving at 1,040 miles per hour. (Correct me if I’m wrong on that.)

Good thing for gravity.

We are forced to travel forward into time while simultaneously stuck in physical locations we don’t necessarily want to be and participating in events we’d rather not.

There is no such thing as the present. Once we think, “this is now,” it’s no longer now. It’s back then.

So anytime we can make a positive memory into one that is eternal, indestructible, and virtually omnipresent, why wouldn’t we?

So why is Instagram so cool? It automatically “retro-izes”  events that just happened, dressing them up like a Dharma Initiative Polaroid in order to direct-deposit the memory into the classic “good times” folder in our brains.

That’s basically what deja vu is- when our brains mistakenly file a current memory as a classic one.

Now back to the beginning: “They grow up so fast.”

We can’t stop it. We can barely detect the tiny changes in our children that happen overnight. We want to hold on to “this version” of our kids forever.

The next best thing we have to pressing the pause button on their current cuteness is to take a picture and therefore speak a thousand words.

That is how we travel back in time to places we’d rather be.

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The Toddlers’ Beat Poet Society Of Nashville

June 4, 2012 at 8:28 pm , by 

A year and a half.

You’ve met Jack’s friends Henry and Sophie before. Well, this past Saturday morning all of us parents decided to get together so we could see how our kids play in an environment with each other outside of their daycare.

After a delicious and glorious breakfast at Henry’s house, Henry’s dad suggested we could check out the “drum circle” going on just a few blocks away.

Honestly, I had no idea what a drum circle was, but it sounded random and therefore enticing… so it was fine by me.

The nine of us made our way to a white tent, covering a man playing a giant bongo drum. In his midst were plenty of chairs for visitors and various sized of bongos for us all to play on.

I guess the concept is that you just show up and drum along to the beat, letting friendly conversations and positive vibes do the rest.

Henry and Sophie seemed to get it. As for Jack, he was more of a skeptic. The tambourine seemed to be more his speed; of course while holding a yellow car he snatched from Henry’s house.

“Jack is like the old man telling the hippies to get out of his yard playing that crazy music,” Henry’s dad pointed out.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

I did think it was funny how while we were there, it was pretty much just us parents and toddlers. The event was similar to many of the scenes in the movie Garden State.

If only Jack were able to remember going to the drum circle when he was 18 months-old, he would say, “Hey dad, remember that time we went to that weird tent where that guy was playing a drum for no reason and we all were supposed to play along? Well, what was that all about? And weren’t Henry and Sophie there too?”

As I tell this story now, it sounds more like a strange dream; which is how most of my childhood memories remain in my mind.

But really, it was the perfect morning. What better way to spend it than with friends all trying something exciting and new… and random.

Those kinds of memories are the best. Shared experiences that in hindsight seem abstract and even pointless.

That’s what adds character to friendship; even for toddlers.

Not to mention, it was free to go to the drum circle. Not even an awkward tip jar.

Even better.

Encore, anyone?

For more pictures of The Toddlers’ Beat Poet Society, I invite you to check out The Dadabase’s Facebook page.

It’s always a good place to get a sneak peak at what’s going on. You’ll even be invited to give me input and advice for upcoming articles.

Peace out, fellow parents.

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My Son, The 80′s Child Actor: Jared Rushton?

June 1, 2012 at 11:10 pm , by 

A year and a half.

Does my son look like the best friend from the movie Big?

In the summer of 1988, my mom took me to see my first non-kids’ movie, Big, starring Tom Hanks.

I remember the anticipation the week leading up to going to the cinema: I didn’t really care what the movie was about.

All I knew was this was the first time my mom wanted to go see a movie on her own initiative and wanted to see it with me, so I was happy to join her even though the main character wasn’t a talking animal or at least a Muppet.

Turns out, Big has remained one of my very favorite movies ever, ever, ever.

Very easily I could write a blog post called “10 Reasons That Big Is One Of The Best Movies Of The Eighties.”

If I did, one of the reasons I would list was Tom Hanks’ interactions with Jared Rushton, the child actor who played his best friend, Billy Kopecki.

For me, the movie just wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for that scene were Jared Rushton starts crying when he realizes that Tom Hanks really is the grown-up version of his best friend.

So I think it’s really interesting that within the past few months, I’ve had two people who don’t even know each other, tell me that my son Jack “looks like the best friend from Big.”

After going through the first 9 pages of Google images for “Jared Rushton Big” I admit I see the resemblance. It’s very subtle, but I  also think it’s undeniable.

I mean, all of the random actors in all the movies in history, for two separate people to pinpoint “the best friend from Big” as my son’s look-alike, I think there must be something to it.

It would really be interesting if in a few years Jack starts resembling Jared Rushton even more.

What do you think? Do you see it?

And if the real Jared Rushton is out there reading this, now at age 38, I’d appreciate your input on this as well.