parenting

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Dear Jack: I Feel Like I’m Getting My Life Back, Part 2

3 years, 8 months.

Continued from Dear Jack: I Feel Like I’m Getting My Life Back, Part 1.

Dear Jack,

snail shell

I sort of feel like an actor who had a steady gig on a popular sitcom that ended.

This is my time to regroup and figure out who I am apart from the magazine I wrote for the past 3 years.

Keep in mind, you are currently 3 years, 8 months old.

That means for the majority of your life, at least two hours of each day of mine was consumed with me keeping the blog up.

I did 25 posts a month; over 1,000 different posts during those 3 years. That’s a lot of hours!

Now that I’m choosing to only do around 3 posts per week, half of what I’m used to, I find myself with more free time on my hands and less stress.

I really paid my dues as a daddy blogger and now I get to be on cruise control. It’s nice to sort of sit back and just watch you be a kid; not feeling that I have to constantly be writing a story about what I see in front of me.

I no longer am preoccupied when I come home, thinking about needing to check my email to see what my editors had to say or how the blog did that day.

Nor do I have to always be writing; sacrificing sleep and quality time with you and Mommy.

Just now, I finished Rocky on Netflix. I have time to watch movies now! That concept is very awesome to me.

I have more undivided time for both you and Mommy. I am liking life a lot more now.

It sounds weird, but I’m realizing that I am laughing out loud and smiling more now. I’m a happier person.

So much stress is off my shoulders and my brain. I feel like I’m getting my life back. And by “my life,” that always means you and Mommy.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: I Feel Like I’m Getting My Life Back, Part 1

3 years, 8 months.

snail California

Dear Jack,

It’s been a month now since I revealed to you that for the past 3 years of your life, I had been the daddy blogger of Parents.com, known as The Dadabase. I will always be grateful for those years; for the experience and credibility I received as a writer.

I also can’t deny that the supplemental income that came with the job was quite helpful. It helped get our family out of debt and has helped us start saving our down payment on our next house.

Not to mention, would I be gaining any notoreity in the car review world if it weren’t for the platform that writing for a major magazine gave me? Nope.

Just a few days ago, I was invited as one of America’s car review bloggers to cover the big Lexus NX reveal. And ultimately, I have Parents.com to thank for elevating my career and giving me the kind of visibility and connections that live on even after the contract ended.

I thank God for Parents.com seeking me out. I have always considered that a miracle; especially because it happened at a dark time in my life. I am eternally grateful for my 3 years writing for Parents.com and will always think the world of them. I still can’t believe they picked me and kept me all that time.

They indirectly taught me to write and think more professionally. I totally see that now.

Granted, I was never famous. (I was, however, a candidate for both Katie Couric’s show and Steve Harvey’s show. They had their people calling me, halfway trying to recruit me to come on their shows. Ultimately, I don’t think I was “shticky” enough for the character I needed to play for their segments.)

Now that I no longer have a major publication attached to my name, I’m finding myself as a regular guy now; a normal dad who happens to have his own daddy blog.

To Be Continued… 

Dear Jack: I Feel Like I’m Getting My Life Back, Part 2.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: Do You Remember The Times Of Your Life?

3 years, 8 months.

*Please play “Times Of Your Life” by Paul Anka while reading this one. I feel it perfectly captures the equal combination of sadness and goodness that illustrate what I am saying today:

Dear Jack,

Towards the end of my high school years, I remember suddenly becoming aware of those first couple of years of my life when things just seemed the sweetest and most innocent.

monster hat for boys

I had looked back though old photo albums, seeing the sincere look of joy on my parents’ faces as they lived in those moments, circa 1984.

My parents had made sacrifices for me, by default, simply because they became parents. But they cherished me for the sweet little boy I was.

It’s not something I had really thought much about until my later teenage years. Here we are, 30 years later. You’re now the sweet little boy in those pictures. Mommy and I are the parents in those pictures who cherish their son.

elevator ceiling selfie

As long as I’ve been a parent, I’ve always been mindful of the cliche warnings: “Don’t rush these years. Kids grow up so fast!”

With that being said, the older you get, the more I love being your Daddy.

So while I’m not trying to rush these years, I admit I’m always curious to see how much cooler being your Daddy will get. You become more of “a real boy” each day.

father and son nostalgia

As for now, these are the days when your stuffed animals still serve as the important equivalent of imaginary friends. It’s like they have souls. We don’t go anywhere without at least one of them, like your purple elephant, Ellie, for example.

I realize that a few years from now, those main characters in your life will fade to the background. What a strange thought!

Right now, these are the sweetest, most innocent years. It’s sadly ironic that I will most likely remember more about this time in your life than you will.

Good thing your Daddy is obsessed with documenting the whole thing for you! Granted, that “obsession” stems from my own wishes to revisit my past.

I enjoy you watching your world and I being a part of it. Perhaps being a parent is the most legitimate way to return to those nostalgic years of life I miss.

Love,

Daddy

P.S. The middle picture is an entry we submitted for a “selfie photo contest” for Joe Hendricks Photography!

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Nashville Man Mysteriously Rescued By Monster Trucks

This past Sunday afternoon as a Nashville man, Nick Shell, 33, was rounding the turn at Old Hickory Boulevard and Nolensville Pike in his newly restored 1985 Toyota 4Runner, he slid into a giant mud-filled ditch.

1985 Toyota 4Runner funny

“I had never seen mud that deep and thick before. It was all the way up to the windows. But then I looked up and saw a monster school bus and a big black monster truck with the phrase Crusader written across it. It was such perfect timing. How the monster trucks appeared immediately after my moment of need, I’ll never know,” Shell explained.

The giant monster trucks were able to nudge the 4Runner back up to the main road to safety. Perhaps miraculously, after all the mud was washed off, both the driver and Toyota 4Runner escaped the crash without even a scratch.

1985 Toyota 4Runner funny

However, the monster trucks mysteriously drove away shortly after the 4Runner was saved from the mud pit. One anonymous eyewitness who happened to be driving behind the monster trucks stated that the two vehicles had directly left from seeing Disney’s Planes: Fire And Rescue.

Did the new Planes movie help inspire the monster trucks to be on the look-out for smaller vehicles they could rescue? It’s possible.

1985 Toyota 4Runner funny

Some wonder if, in the likeness of the anonymous kindness of comic book super heroes, there will be more stories to come which tell of other monster trucks helping out drivers in need out there on the road.

It is also uncertain what exactly caused such a large area of deep mud so close to the main road. Large, asteroid-like clumps of rocky mud were also discovered near the site of the rescue.

We can only hope that where people are in despair, heroes continue to mysteriously appear to save them.

As for now, to the monster school bus and Crusader… whoever and wherever you are, your good works have not gone unnoticed.

1985 Toyota 4Runner funny

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Dear Jack: New Infographic- Success is Not Just Hard Work — Your Social Opportunities Could Shape Your Future

3 years, 8 months.

Nashville family

Dear Jack,

There is (and should be) a certain amount of undeniable pressure as your parent to ensure you have great opportunities throughout your life; if not better than what I’ve had.

While it may sound petty or pretentious that I’ve been mentioning our goal to move into “a house in the right school district” here in Nashville, it’s something I feel I need to take seriously. I want you to have exposure to the best education and technology as I reasonably can.

I was one of the first in my family to get a college degree; that was a pretty big deal. But these days, it seems the 4 year college degree is now the high school diploma of 1981, the year I was born.

In other words, I realize for you to really get ahead in your career, Mommy and I are responsible for making sure we help you take advantage of the social opportunities you encounter along the way; as well as the ones you purposely seek out along the way.

This new infographic below, “Success is Not Just Hard Work — Your Social Opportunities Could Shape your Future,” points out some of the social opportunities that can really enhance your future and career:

Environment, technology, finances, culture, and lifestyle.

Now that I really think about it, these 5 particular elements are crucial to furthering your career.

For example, you can have a college degree with an MBA, but if you’re not extremely familiar with the culture you live in, or if you don’t live off a strict budget, you can still totally be set back.

So I take it upon myself, as your dad, to help you obtain a healthy balance of these social opportunities.

After all, the school system (as well as most universities) don’t value the importance of teaching their students how to do a personal budget.

But coming from your Mommy and Daddy, who just a few years ago were $58,000 in debt, and who are now in the positive enough to be “snowballing” the down payment for our new house, I promise we will teach you the value of a budget.

I agree with the title of the infographic: Success is not just hard work.

We’ll teach you everything we know, Son.

Social Opportunities
Source: SocialWorkDegreeGuide.com