growing up

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Dear Holly: Trading in Your Pink Surfer Girl Jeep

9 years, 3 months.

Dear Holly,

I admit. It was sad to see your pink “Surfer Girl” Jeep out by the side of the road to be picked up; along with your old car booster seat and the stroller we used to push you around in. And for the record, someone picked it all up before we even went to bed that night.

The pink Jeep was your main gift from us for Christmas 2020; over 4 and a half years ago when you were only 4 years old.

And you certainly got so much use out of it all these years. It served its purpose, for sure!

But, I have to accept that you are growing up and that means you eventually outgrow certain toys. Now, your brother’s new “side-by-side” vehicle serves as the new upgrade to your pink Jeep!

 

Love,

Daddy

 

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Dear Holly: 10 Years Later, You’re Now in the Photo

8 years, 5 months.

Dear Holly,

This past weekend as I took updated versions of our family photos from exactly a decade ago, it took me a moment to grasp the concept:

“Oh, right! Holly wasn’t even born 10 years ago when this first photo was made!”

For everyone else in the “same ages” photo update, I simply added 10 years. But for you, as well as your cousin Darla, you showed up on the new photo as an 8 year-old.

Isn’t it strange to think you haven’t just always been here with the rest of us this whole time? You don’t remember there ever not being you.

But I do.

And I’m definitely glad you’re here now!

Love,

Daddy

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On My Wife’s 43rd Birthday, Looking Back on When We Were in Our 20s

As we still continue to “pare down” our belongings from the move to Alabama, I came across a stack of the customized calendars I would make for my wife and I each month to keep at our desks at work, back during the first decade of the 2000’s.

It’s funny to think that there were a couple of years before we were married, before I started blogging, running my YouTube channel, and regularly writing new songs, that I would instead use my creativity to craft monthly calendars featuring pictures of what we had done together the month before.

Today my wife joins me in turning 43 years old. (I’m 113 days older than her.)

It has been interesting to look back through these now “old” photos of us when we were in our 20s! I was 27 and she was about to turn 27 when we got married in 2008.

These calendars stopped before we ever reached our 30s; in the 2010s. Two reasons: One is because we became parents at age 29. The other is that I began focusing on my role as Parents magazine’s daddy blogger.

So much has happened in our lives since I stopped making these calendars. We lived through our entire 30s- and as of today, we are a third of our way through our 40s.

Through all the stress that came with putting our Tennessee home on the market this year, finding a new home in Alabama, and making the move across state lines, it’s really rewarding to be able to stop for a minute and look through these old pictures of us.

It’s like I’m able to see our lives together from a 3rd party’s perspective looking in:

“Wow, we’ve shared an amazing life together so far. This is really nice. We both made a really good choice when we chose each other back in 2007.”

Happy Birthday Jill!

 

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Dear Holly: Upgrading to a Big Bowl Now, Like the Rest of Our Family

7 years, 7 months.

Dear Holly,

I make every effort on my end to capture and document each little moment of you growing up. This week was when you decided it was time to upgrade from the smaller, plastic “kid friendly” bowl you have been using to eat from your entire life, to the regular ceramic bowls that the rest of our family eats from.

With you being our “baby”, I always perceive it as a delicate balance between encouraging you to become more independent and to still appreciate being young.

Part of the special connection you and I have is that I unashamedly am going through my official midlife/existential crisis, while you help remind me each day how to notice and enjoy the simple things.

Love,

Daddy

3 Comments Posted on Nostalgia, parenting, People, Pregnancy, Storytelling, Uncategorized

Dear Jack: A Dad’s Letter To His Son On His 5th Birthday

5 years old!

Dear Jack: A Dad’s Letter To His Son On His 5th Birthday

Dear Jack,

Good morning. You are officially 5 years old today!

I’m so glad you are. The older you get, the closer our relationship grows.

The way I look at it is sort of like a good road trip. You have to appreciate the journey as much as the destination. As you and I both grow older and mature together as individual human beings, we also are able to know each other better as well.

Dear Jack: A Dad’s Letter To His Son On His 5th Birthday

Just today you were asking me about the first time you spoke “real words” to me and I understood them; and you understood me back.

You’re old enough now to where years have actually passed since those days of helping you learn to talk; back when many of your first words I taught you were vehicles we saw on the way to and from daycare each day.

“Jeep!”

“Mustang!”

“Dump truck!”

The older you get, the more I am able to appreciate our relationship and our time together.

Five years ago I was clueless on how to be a parent. I had to figure it all out together with Mommy.

These days, the guessing games and the related frustrations are gone. I know you now.

Granted, you’ve got a baby brother or sister on the way in April. This is your final birthday as an “only child”. And as for me, I’ll be thrown back into the mode of changing diapers and preparing bottles.

Imagine how much you will change, for the better, when you are Mommy and Daddy’s much needed helper!

I remember how surprised I was back when you were a newborn, having parents who are both of Italian heritage (and Mexican on my side), ended up with blonde hair and blue eyes.

And I also remember several people said your hair would get darker and your eyes would change color.

But you’re 5 now, and your eyes are still blue and you pretty much still kind of have blonde hair. You’ve made it this far still looking this way!

It still amazes me.

Happy 5th Birthday, Jack. I’ve got plenty more letters to write you and we’ve got plenty more growing up to do together.

Love,

Daddy

Dear Jack: A Dad’s Letter To His Son On His 5th Birthday

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