Storytelling

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Celebrating Our 12th Wedding Anniversary, During COVID-19, in the Mountains of Tennessee

When my wife and I were planning our wedding over 12 years ago, we strategically chose July 5th as our wedding date; as it would always conveniently be the day after a major national holiday. In other words, we knew we would always either have the day off work before our anniversary, or like this year, get a 3 day weekend out of the deal.

For the past two weekends now, we have ventured out to local wineries near where we live, nearly an hour south of Nashville, Tennessee.

We have sort of stumbled into this fun summer routine on Saturdays.

So for our 12th wedding anniversary, we drove to the outskirts of Chattanooga, about two hours from where we live, to check out both a local winery as well as a brewery.

First we visited Look Out Winery in Guild, which overlooks the river. It marked the first time we visited a Tennessee winery that was just as much a restaurant.

We loved their pizza!

After lunch, we headed down the highway about ten more miles then drove up another mountain to Top of the Rock Restaurant and Brewery in Jasper, Tennessee.

The view was amazing.

We loved it there so much that my wife already decided that is where she would like to spend her 39th birthday, coming up in about 6 weeks on August 11th.

So here’s to a dozen years of knowing I married the right woman… and to celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary during a global pandemic.

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Dear Jack: I’ve Been Writing You Letters Every Week for Over 10 Years, But You’re Not Even 10 Years Old Yet…

9 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack,

It was May 2010 that I decided to start writing you at least one letter every week, to serve as a thumbnail of what was going on in your life that week, or at least what was going on in my head as your dad that week.

I should point out that in May 2010, you weren’t born yet. Instead, that was the month that Mommy and I found out we were going to be having a baby.

You weren’t born until November. So for over a decade, I have been creating and growing this collection of journal entries to document each week of your life.

I have told you about it. You are aware I do this.

But later, when you are older, I think you will truly be able to appreciate having an archive of your own life, written by your dad.

Love,

Daddy

 

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Dear Jack: I Wrote a Song about You This Week- “That Boy’s Been Growing Up on Me”

9 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack,

This week has been unexpectedly emotional for me. You’ve been away on vacation in Florida with Nonna and Papa, as well as Aunt Dana and Uncle Andrew, and your cousins.

I didn’t expect to miss you so much. After all, you’re like 9 year and a half years old now. You’re not a little boy anymore.

And that’s exactly why it hit me so hard…

While I couldn’t possibly be prouder of the boy you’ve become, I’ve been coming to terms with the fact that those days of you being a little boy are gone.

For the past 4 days, I have been journaling my thoughts and feelings through a song I have been writing; so that I myself can better understand what I am going through right now.

Today, I was finally able to record the song; one of the few times I was able to do so without crying.

And when I say crying, I mean bawling.

It helped when your Aunt Dana told me today that you are currently taking a break from swimming in the ocean to watch WWE Wrestling.

You don’t treat your stuffed animals like they are real anymore, but you still believe WWE Wrestling is real. I can settle for that. You’re not fully grown up yet.

I love you, Jack.

That boy’s been growing up, that boy’s been growing up on me

He shouldn’t be enough, he shouldn’t be old enough

It doesn’t seem, it doesn’t seem

Those Hot Wheels have all raced away

Like the friends of Thomas the Train

And now I’m missing that boy who went with them

He’s growing up

Those stuffed animals all used to be real

But they’re starting to all disappear

And now my baby boy, first born bundle of joy, is growing up on me

That boy’s a part of me, that boy’s a part of me

My son is growing up

Holding on to memories, never letting go of these

My son is growing up

It takes so much for me to ever cry these days

So it’s funny how these words are drenched in tears

A father’s love for his only son is all it takes

To get me here

And now I’m here

Love,

Daddy

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Dear Holly: You Love Serving Coffee and Tea to Everyone!

4 years, 1 month.

Dear Holly,

Growing up, I would see in movies, TV shows, and commercials where the young girl character just loved having tea parties. I always thought, “That’s not really how little girls act. They don’t really like to pretend to have tea…”

But now that you’re here, I have learned it’s not just some random cliche.

It’s real.

Here’s proof from our recent family vacation to Florida.

Pretty much all of your play time when we were in our condo was devoted to you carefully and meticulously arranging all the coffee pods on a plate, then serving them to us.

This past weekend, while we went out for time at Cracker Barrel, you saw a $4 set of miniature tea cups and dishes.

Mommy and I couldn’t say no.

Then back at the house as soon as you got home, you spent a solid 30 minutes pretending to pour tea in the tiny cups. I sneaked up and pretending to quickly gulp one down.

I loved the look on your face, as I could easily read exactly what was going through your head:

“Okay, so that is good that Daddy drank the tea and liked it, but now I do need to make some more so there is enough to refill that cup…”

That is what it’s like to be a 4 year-old little girl.

Love,

Daddy

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My New Hamster Dad T-Shirt: Fist Bumping “Best Friends for Life”

Over six months ago now, back on November 16th, 2019, my son turned 9 years old. To my own surprise (still to this day), I agreed to let him get a male Syrian hamster as a pet.

Obviously, that meant that on November 16th, 2019, my son didn’t become the proud new owner of a pet hamster. Instead, I became the extremely reluctant new owner of a pet hamster.

After the first couple of weeks, during the initial 30 days period where the pet store would allow us to get a full refund, my son officially decided he wanted to take his birthday present. My son wasn’t attached and he didn’t want the responsibility.

But I just couldn’t do that to the little guy… I am referring to the hamster, here.

So I did some research on YouTube and learned what I needed to know to be a good hamster dad.

I bought a 20 gallon aquarium, instead of the stupid plastic toy one we originally bought. I taught myself how to hand-tame the hamster. I learned the importance of helping the hamster live in a feng shui environment; regularly placing new cardboard boxes in the his tank, and hiding food throughout his home.

And of course, I take him out every evening when when he wakes up, to play with him. (Syrian hamsters are nocturnal.)

To me, it’s undeniable I have become the best hamster dad in the state of Tennessee.

So it only made sense that I should use some of my “birthday budget” (my wife and I are faithful Dave Ramsey followers) to buy a t-shirt to express how proud I am to be a hamster dad.

On Amazon, I found this really cool one that has a man and a hamster fist bumping, with the caption reading, Best Friends for Life.

There’s a built-in joke in there: Syrian hamsters typically only live to be 2 or 3 years old.

So my goal is to celebrate these next couple of years and give this hamster the best life a hamster can have!

If you want to buy a hamster t-shirt like mine, just click here to find the best deal on Amazon, like I did.