parenting

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Dear Holly: Your 8th Birthday Party

8 years old.

Dear Holly,

You chose to have your 8th birthday party at Muletown Pottery, where you and your friends each got to select a small clay item to paint; to be put in an oven and ready for pick up a week later.

I loved seeing the smile on your face when you had the privilege of placing your handprint to be featured on the birthday wall.

Something I appreciated about your birthday part was the ambience: chill.

It was almost like being in a library. I loved that everyone was having fun… without chaos, noise, or any out-of-control messes.

Good choice on your part!

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: How to Have Fun at Your Sister’s 8th Birthday Party

13 years, 5 months.

Dear Jack,

Leading up to your sister’s 8th birthday party last weekend, I never gave any thought to the fact that you, a 13 year-old, and your nearly 13 year-old cousin Calla, would be invited to and therefore, actually participate in painting pottery with everyone else.

When the time came for the designated activity, you were authentically into it; no irony whatsoever.

You paid attention to the details as you painted your gnome figurine.

But you definitely had some extra fun before and after the party, leading by example, as you pretended to be trapped in a box; which was basically a decorative glass table.

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: It’s Not Just Me, You Really are Good at Drawing

7 years, 11 months.

Dear Holly,

It’s not just me because I’m your dad: You really are talented when it comes to your drawing skills.

As we are constantly packing up our house and shipping out more boxes each couple of weeks we travel to our Alabama house, you have been taking it upon yourself to decorate the boxes first.

Not to mention, a decent amount of the time you are on your tablet, it is because you are watching videos on YouTube to learn to draw a new animal.

When I was a kid, I loved to draw as well. I even took art lessons for a few years during the summers.

This is something we instinctively share in common… the artistic, creative gene.

Now here in a couple of years, maybe you’ll take me up on my offer to teach you to play guitar… since your brother turned me down on that!

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: One More Month to Spend Time with Your Current Friends

13 years, 5 months.

Dear Jack,

Our house here in Tennessee officially goes on the market this coming Monday.

With your 7th grade school year coming to a close in about a month, these are the final weeks of you seeing and hanging out with your current group of friends everyday.

Often after school, you go to hang out with them; playing basketball or football in our neighborhood or one of the surrounding ones.

I’m not sure that you’ve really processed this yet, but even though you’ll still have their cell phone numbers and will be able to keep in touch with them after we move, you are facing a turning point in your life where you will be leaving them behind and making new friends.

So when I see this picture of you and your friends right now, this is what I think about.

 

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Jack: You and Your Sister Babysat Each Other?

13 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

In the more than 13 years of you being alive, and the nearly 8 years for your sister, I can only think of two times we ever hired a babysitter.

And both times, it was a pre-school teacher who we already knew very well.

Other than that, anytime Mommy and I have needed to get out and go somewhere by ourselves, we would just base it off of Nonna and Papa coming up for the weekend from Alabama.

But last weekend, we decided to go out to dinner with some friends and leave you and your sister at home to babysit… each other?

Or yourselves?

I’m not sure how that worked out, since we got home to learn that the two of you went to your own bedrooms the entire time we were gone and never even talked to each other.

However, you negotiated us paying you $6 so you could buy an upgrade for one of your games you play on your phone. To be fair, your sister also got the same pay.

Everyone got what they wanted out of the deal.

The irony: We are just a couple of months now from moving to Alabama, where we will always have instant and constant access to family members who can watch you anytime we need.

Love,

Daddy