Essays From A Parent

Being a father is not how I imagined it. When my wife Danyael was pregnant with our first daughter, because I’m the type of person who definitely likes to learn as much about as many things as possible and who does not like surprises, I did a lot of reading and researching about babies and

A Giving Tree

On Sunday, September 17th, my mother-in-law, my wife’s mother, and my daughters’ grandmother, Deanne Lipsius passed away. She is the first of my daughters’ grandparents to pass away. With permission from my wife, the following is the speech I gave at the funeral. I am equal parts sad and honored to be speaking today. When

Healthier Choices

I’ve been struggling for a bit on whether or not I should write THIS post. I’ve gone back and forth on if I should and why and how I would write it. This blog, since the first post in September of 2010, has, with very few exceptions, been about my perspectives on being a parent

Confidence

Today Chloe turns 14. Yesterday, she was walking towards me in the kitchen and on her approach said, “hug it out dad.” I got so excited because if you know her, you know, hugging isn’t really her thing. I looked around to make sure there were witnesses and spread my arms wide. The world slowed

Of Chicken Parm and Penne

Today Julianna turns 15. Last year, for the annual birthday post, I wrote about how Julianna was prepping herself, and us, for the beginning of High School. Now, on the back-9 of her freshman year in high school, it’s safe to give her a resounding: so far, so good. Actually, that’s not fair. She’s doing

The Bubster

Each summer, when I was a kid and before I started going to overnight camp, my family would go to Cape Cod for 2 weeks for vacation. My sister and I, along with my parents and my mother’s parents (Bubbie and Zadie) made up the core group of vacationers. We would get visitors from other

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I don’t understand. This post will not be one of the “fun” ones to read. I typically don’t share my thoughts on these sorts of things but I feel compelled this time. Yesterday, May 24th, at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, 19 children and 2 teachers were brutally murdered while at school. This

The Path

Today Chloe turns 13. We officially have 2 teenaged daughters. Julianna, as I’m sure you know, turned 14 a few weeks ago. For her birthday, in 2019, I wrote a “flashforward” set of predictions for how her life might turn out. It is now 3 years later and it’s Chloe’s turn. Here’s what I said

High School Julianna

Today Julianna turns 14. Oh wait, I’m sorry. Today, High School Julianna turns 14. She’s not even in High School yet but has recently taken to referring to herself, not only in the 3rd person, but with the “High School” qualifier. “High School Julianna is going to get to keep her phone in her bedroom