parenting

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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

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Dear Jack: Personal Coaching Lessons for Baseball

13 years, 4 months.

Dear Jack,

Joining a baseball team has been such a good activity for you right now. It has inspired you to choose to spend so much of your free time practicing.

We have been investing in purchasing extra equipment for you to practice with.

I have been so pleased with the personal coaching lessons you have been going to, as well. Your coach specifically made a point to tell me that you are very coachable and that he can see how you are improving and learning.

Coming up here in a few weeks, you will actually start having games!

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: Our Final Daddy Daughter Dance in Tennessee

7 years, 11 months.

Dear Holly,

Last Friday night I took you to the Daddy Daughter Dance for the 3rd and final time at our church here in Tennessee.

I thought about how after we move to Alabama this summer, it is not for certain that we will have access to dances like these, where we are moving.

So I definitely cherished every minute with you at the dance.

As always, we were the first in the door, the last to leave, and the most active out there on the dance floor!

About an hour into it, you told me you needed to take a break. In the gift bags we received, we both got a Hershey’s chocolate bar.

We wolfed those down to use as fuel to keep the party going. People were depending on us out there.

And we didn’t let them down.

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: The Cake Decorating Class You Attended

7 years, 10 months.

Dear Holly,

Last week during your Spring Break in Alabama, you got to be part of a Simply Sweet cake decorating class with your cousins.

It was a wonderful glimpse of what life will be like for you when we move to Alabama in a couple of months.

I loved being there to witness you not only learning how to decorate a cake, but also, learning about manners and etiquette; which I personally hold in high regards.

Something else I appreciated about the class is that you were required to introduce yourself to everyone and describe what things you are currently interested in; as you illustrated your name badge accordingly.

It was so sweet, and hilarious, that you chose to feature SpongeBob SquarePants.

Of course, once the two hour class was over, you certainly didn’t go home empty handed.

We were able to enjoy a delicious cake that you decorated!

 

Love,

Daddy