Previously… Donald Trump is going to be our next President. We live in a country where there’s something called Democracy. Not every country gets to have this. The idea is that once you get to be 18, you get a chance to vote for the things that are important to you. Sometimes the vote goes
Category: Matt
Making the Best
Today Chloe turns 11. Now, both her and Julianna have had to celebrate their birthdays during the Great Quarantine of 2020. I find myself feeling a bit conflicted about how to handle the emotional ups and downs both girls have felt about their birthdays happening during this time. For Julianna’s birthday, we asked a bunch
The Matriarch
Well… My grandmother died today. She was just about to turn 95 years old. This is a weird one. My grandmother, Rhoda Brand, had been battling dementia. It is difficult to know exactly when it really took hold but I’d say it has been roughly 8 to 10 years where I can remember being able
Quaranteeny Bit Crazy
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Today I dyed part of Chloe’s hair blue. Here’s proof: In the “Book of Parenting” that lists all of the things that you will likely do at some point or another during your time as a parent, this was unlisted. It was the first time I took on
Et Cetera
Today, Julianna turns 12. Every year, since she was 3, I’ve been publishing a post on this day. You can read them here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. These birthday posts have gotten harder and harder to write each year. I generally start thinking about them a few days in advance
Zen and the Art of Childhood Maintenance
Tonight, Julianna and I had a “date night.” My wife had arranged plans for her and Chloe to go hang out with one of Chloe’s friends and her mother so Julianna and I had our own thing. She picked the restaurant (which happened to be my favorite local Italian place) and off we went. We
Honoring Eddie
The following is a bit heavy handed, more than a bit dramatic, and a little bit of a departure (hopefully temporarily) from my typical blog posts. I wanted to make sure I could spread this around to as wide an audience as possible. I appreciate your attention. As they say, “desperate times…” On May 7th,
Counting to 10
Today Chloe turns 10. I know what you’re thinking: Another exciting look into the future! I thought about doing that for Chloe like I did for Julianna but Chloe deserves her own thing, not some derivative nonsense. And so I’ve been thinking back to all that’s happened since her last birthday; all the moments of
11.
Today Julianna turned 11. This year’s birthday post might have ended up looking like this: This year, we talked to Julianna about sex. The end. That would have been a big enough event to cover the whole year. I then thought about what I did last year. Last year, I did a very clever “flashback”
The Talk
Disclaimer: This post might be considered by some to be “explicit” based on the subject matter, my apparent lack of understanding of it, or your potential belief that I should or shouldn’t have been part of the conversation. You can agree or disagree with our approach. This is just me describing our experience discussing an