[as an aside: it's weird to end my day with the newsletter instead of starting? anyway, cheers from Chennai, India.]
My dad, who will be 70 in an alarmingly short amount of time, has my version of first baptism by Gulf of Mexico framed on his desk to this very day. Last time the husband and I were over there, at our big ages of almost-41 and almost-42, I caught Daddy sneaking a quick glance at it and smiling, then looking back at us and smiling in that happy/sad way that is a dad trademark. So yeah, I have no doubt that you'll be in the same boat someday with that perfect picture of your little peanut.
First, thank goodness nobody was in the car when it happened.
Second, it's objectively hilarious. Like Olaf's one flappy ear.
Third, I think you're lucky it landed square in your sunroof. If that branch had come straight down on a regular car roof you might not have been able to drive it home. Instead of an expensive roof repair, you can just replace the sunroof.
Oh yeah. It could’ve been a lot better—like missing the car entirely—but it easily could’ve been much worse. Could’ve hit one of us getting out of the car.
"my daughter, a magical being of pure vibes who has never observed a single instruction in her life nor faced an ounce of consequence for not doing so."
Perfectly describes my youngest daughter. Wonder if this is a "baby of the family" thing.
(Saw this unfold on Twitter. Glad everyone's okay and they have someone with such impeccable duct tape skills.)
It would make *sense* to be a "baby of the family" thing, but I'm the younger of two (like she is), and I have roughly the same disposition as my son, which is basically this tweet:
Wow. I'm the youngest of two and have the same disposition as my oldest, who is just as you have described yourself and son. (Whenever we watch Teen Titans Go! the girls say I am Cyborg, but deep down I know I'm Robin. Your piece about worrying too much really hit home.) My older brother is just like my youngest kid. I guess there really is only two types of people.
Just wait until you get around 55 or so. Months go by like days, and so on. Even if all you're doing is nothing most of the time it seems like the warp drive has been upgraded. Keep the kids around as long as you possibly can.
This made me think of an expression I'd only heard for the first time recently: how it ended is how it was.
And I'd like to point out that while that is generally the case, it's only the case because we don't make a concerted effort to remember the full experience. So while a vacation ends with a busted moonroof and insurance headaches, know that you can choose to remember the trip however you want to.
I made a point yesterday evening to sit the kids down and write out our experiences from the whole trip; there are so many small details, insignificant in the larger scheme of things, that disappear almost immediately without making an effort to remember them. For the bad things, that's great, but for the little things--something we laughed about, something silly we saw--it's worth preserving.
(I was going to say "I don't normally journal like this", but [looks at 450+ newsletters] okay, I guess I do)
My kids are real close to the same ages as yours, and if we had a nickel for every time my wife or I have said "Kid A/B said the funniest thing today when you were gone, but I can't remember it" an hour after saying "There's no way I'll forget that" we'd have a piggy bank full of nickels. It's great to know you're remembering the broad strokes, but it's nice to have some detail recorded, too. Thanks for the reminders to take an extra moment here and there.
I take tons of photos of the kids, but one thing I try to remind myself to do is take videos, even if they're just of casual moments, because it's so easy to forget the little idiosyncracies of speech and behavior even six months prior.
Back in 2011 we were at a wedding in Upstate NY. That evening a light snow began to fall to make the photos that much more magical that crisp October evening.
The next morning we started to head home to CT and as we made our way south to the Mass Pike and noticed the snowfall was a bit heavier and trees were bending from the weight of the snow. As we got closer to home there were detours everywhere as trees were down, snapped like matchsticks. We finally got to our home, pulled in the driveway only to find half a maple tree on the roof of my car and trees/branches covering the yard and no power.
Yeah it was bad. The state had to tell people not to go Trick or Treating because it was so dangerous for days after the storm. The infamous October Snowmageddon.
[as an aside: it's weird to end my day with the newsletter instead of starting? anyway, cheers from Chennai, India.]
My dad, who will be 70 in an alarmingly short amount of time, has my version of first baptism by Gulf of Mexico framed on his desk to this very day. Last time the husband and I were over there, at our big ages of almost-41 and almost-42, I caught Daddy sneaking a quick glance at it and smiling, then looking back at us and smiling in that happy/sad way that is a dad trademark. So yeah, I have no doubt that you'll be in the same boat someday with that perfect picture of your little peanut.
Three things about that picture:
First, thank goodness nobody was in the car when it happened.
Second, it's objectively hilarious. Like Olaf's one flappy ear.
Third, I think you're lucky it landed square in your sunroof. If that branch had come straight down on a regular car roof you might not have been able to drive it home. Instead of an expensive roof repair, you can just replace the sunroof.
Oh yeah. It could’ve been a lot better—like missing the car entirely—but it easily could’ve been much worse. Could’ve hit one of us getting out of the car.
"my daughter, a magical being of pure vibes who has never observed a single instruction in her life nor faced an ounce of consequence for not doing so."
Perfectly describes my youngest daughter. Wonder if this is a "baby of the family" thing.
(Saw this unfold on Twitter. Glad everyone's okay and they have someone with such impeccable duct tape skills.)
It would make *sense* to be a "baby of the family" thing, but I'm the younger of two (like she is), and I have roughly the same disposition as my son, which is basically this tweet:
https://twitter.com/jon_snow_420/status/659443020908003328?s=20&t=h2hU7izCWtqTLJwSR069xw
Wow. I'm the youngest of two and have the same disposition as my oldest, who is just as you have described yourself and son. (Whenever we watch Teen Titans Go! the girls say I am Cyborg, but deep down I know I'm Robin. Your piece about worrying too much really hit home.) My older brother is just like my youngest kid. I guess there really is only two types of people.
Just wait until you get around 55 or so. Months go by like days, and so on. Even if all you're doing is nothing most of the time it seems like the warp drive has been upgraded. Keep the kids around as long as you possibly can.
This made me think of an expression I'd only heard for the first time recently: how it ended is how it was.
And I'd like to point out that while that is generally the case, it's only the case because we don't make a concerted effort to remember the full experience. So while a vacation ends with a busted moonroof and insurance headaches, know that you can choose to remember the trip however you want to.
I made a point yesterday evening to sit the kids down and write out our experiences from the whole trip; there are so many small details, insignificant in the larger scheme of things, that disappear almost immediately without making an effort to remember them. For the bad things, that's great, but for the little things--something we laughed about, something silly we saw--it's worth preserving.
(I was going to say "I don't normally journal like this", but [looks at 450+ newsletters] okay, I guess I do)
My kids are real close to the same ages as yours, and if we had a nickel for every time my wife or I have said "Kid A/B said the funniest thing today when you were gone, but I can't remember it" an hour after saying "There's no way I'll forget that" we'd have a piggy bank full of nickels. It's great to know you're remembering the broad strokes, but it's nice to have some detail recorded, too. Thanks for the reminders to take an extra moment here and there.
I take tons of photos of the kids, but one thing I try to remind myself to do is take videos, even if they're just of casual moments, because it's so easy to forget the little idiosyncracies of speech and behavior even six months prior.
Thank you for the flashback Mr. Cookbook.
Back in 2011 we were at a wedding in Upstate NY. That evening a light snow began to fall to make the photos that much more magical that crisp October evening.
The next morning we started to head home to CT and as we made our way south to the Mass Pike and noticed the snowfall was a bit heavier and trees were bending from the weight of the snow. As we got closer to home there were detours everywhere as trees were down, snapped like matchsticks. We finally got to our home, pulled in the driveway only to find half a maple tree on the roof of my car and trees/branches covering the yard and no power.
Ohhhhh nooooo
Yeah it was bad. The state had to tell people not to go Trick or Treating because it was so dangerous for days after the storm. The infamous October Snowmageddon.