cats

1 Comment Posted on fatherhood, funny, parenting, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: You Wrote and Illustrated Your Very 1st Original Book, “Creepy Animals” (Or As I Call It, “The Fluffy and the Furious”)

6 years, 5 months.

Dear Jack,

I am so proud of you. You took it upon yourself to write, and illustrate, your very first book. It had nothing to do with any assignment at school.

Sure, I knew this day would come… I just didn’t realize it would happen so soon!

But especially with you being in “A.R.” (Advanced Readers), in your Kindergarten class, you naturally have an interest in applying what you know to your already existing level of creativity.

The funny thing is, I had no idea you were even working on a book until the day you finished it. You had been working on it each day at the house after school, before I got home.

With no further ado, here is your very 1st original book, Creepy Animals:

One day there was a new monster. The monsters were creepy.

They were furious. And were fluffy.

They were dangerous and could fly. They had horns.

There could be creepy birds. They had sharp, pointy teeth.

There could be spidercats. And thorns.

And weird animals. And sharp, and pointy spikes.

The end.

Right away, I appreciate how the story begins in suspense, as we are presented with a new monster. Then we learn he is one of many monsters.

The suspense continues, and the curiosity arises, as we wonder why the monsters are so furious. Somewhat ironic is the fact that these same furious monsters are also fluffy. Typically, things that are fluffy are not also furious, but these monsters are definitely the exception to the rule!

We read on to learn how prevalent horns are among these monsters- and we are even given a mention of spidercats!

These are weird animals, indeed.

Thank you so much for writing and illustrating your first book. I know there will be many more. I especially look forward to us eventually working on a book together- where I write it and you illustrate it.

That’s going to be awesome!

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on Nostalgia, parenting, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: You Now Can Remember Your “Past Life” As A Baby

3 years, 11 months.

Dear Jack: You Now Can Remember Your “Past Life” As A Baby

Dear Jack,

Here lately, you’ve been asking me questions when you were a baby. I’ve determined that your definition of “baby” basically means any time before you were 3 years old.

Given that your 4th birthday is coming up next weekend; that means that the last year of your life, the year between age 3 and age 4, is the part you’ve lived as a “boy.”

Again, this is all your thinking, not mine. I’ve learned this by you calling any other kid under the age of 3 a baby.

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So in essence, you are asking questions about your “past life”… I was there for all of it, documenting it the whole time. As for you, you mainly only remember the events from the most recent 25% of your life.

Dear Jack: You Now Can Remember Your “Past Life” As A Baby

For example, you obviously still remember your friend Sophie; she moved away in February.

But as for Henry, you’re clueless. Many playdates took place. There were countless hours together at your school.

Yet the only reference you have of him is after the fact; pictures and videos that I took of you two.

Dear Jack: You Now Can Remember Your “Past Life” As A Baby

Of course, I fully recognize that this most recent 25% of your life will eventually become the oldest 25%, getting blurrier as each year passes.

In the end, you’ll only remember a portion of this past year which you can currently recall very well.

Like this- will you remember the days when you’d visit our next door neighbor Rachel and her pet cat after school?

Because those are things are going on in your life right now.

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Will you remember drawing your awesome pictures of monster trucks then asking Mommy and me to cut them out and hang on the fridge?

As for me, I serve witness to these memories which will mostly be forgotten by you. And since I’m taking good notes, you’ll always have a portal to the past for any day you want to travel time.

I’ll tell you all about it. I’ll even show you.

Love,

Daddy

Leave a comment Posted on People, Uncategorized

Take This Year’s New Year’s Resolutions Seriously Because Convenient Procrastination is Self-Sabotage.

“No more messing around and living underground and New Year’s resolutions… To tell you the truth I’ve said it before; tomorrow I start in a new direction.” –excerpt from the song “Come Downstairs and Say Hello” by Guster

A general rule of life that I have stumbled upon more recently is this: If I really wanted to be doing something, I would already be doing it. And if I don’t yet have the means to do it, I will save the money to afford it or study the material to become qualified or expose myself to the daily discipline and patience it takes to accomplish the goal. So in theory, nothing is holding me back from doing anything I want to do. Not even myself is holding me back.

And really, we ourselves are often the biggest obstacle keeping us from accomplishing our goals. For the most part.

 

People are consistently late to events because they consistently leave the house 10 minutes late. Not because of an alarm clock or too many red lights.

Some people consistently set themselves up for failure. Not because they themselves are failures or are incapable of change, but because they don’t truly want to accomplish the goal. As the 4th grade cliché goes, they are simply not applying themselves. Subconsciously, they are assuring themselves they won’t have to make an inconvenient change.

The biggest red flag I know of is the sure-to-fail system we call New Year’s Resolutions. Two of America’s most popular resolutions every year are to lose weight and quit smoking. But the holidays are filled with constant stressful situations and plentiful meals of comfort food. So people wait until the testing time is over (January 1st), trying to outsmart the system. It’s easier to “start over” in the New Year. But like uncooked spaghetti thrown at a wall, it doesn’t stick.

 

The holidays are the necessary boot camp, the true test whether a person is serious about making a lifestyle change. The new year isn’t a magical time that makes things suddenly easier.

The argument is that some people need goals to be motivated. I am one of them. But to set a goal further out into the future for no other reason other than convenient procrastination is self-sabotage.