Vol. 90 - A Coupla Few Little Thoughts
Indecision Time
I had a few ideas for this week’s newsletter but couldn’t quite decide which was worth the most time and space. So rather than pick one, I’m doing all of them in bite-sized parts.
RIP Big Lou
Last week, the father of one of my closest friends died after a long sickness. I met my friend in preschool, which means I was close with his dad for 37 of my 41 years. I loved him a lot.
Recently, my buddy, his cousin, and I took the old man on a bucket list trip to Roswell, New Mexico to go find some aliens. It’s a trip I’ll hold dear for the rest of my life.
His death made me think of all the men beyond my own dad who helped raise me, who looked after me, and who loved me. It made me think of the men I keep in my life and hope that I surround my kids with people as kind, as caring, as giving, and as good as this man was.
See you in Valhalla, Big Lou. Save me a seat.
Speaking of Men Who Helped Raise Me
I received an unexpected letter in the mail late last week from my sixth-grade teacher; a man who had an indelible impact on my life. We haven’t spoken in probably twenty-five years but his letter brought me to tears.
In it, he recalled an essay I wrote for him… in 1993. He even mentioned the title. So I guess those impacts can work both ways. I try to remember that as my son gets older, to allow myself to remain open to learning from and being moved by the kids in his life.
Screen-Free Weekend
Our son messed up in a pretty big way on Friday, which led to a pretty big consequence. That is, no shows, no video games, no screens whatsoever all weekend.
And guess what happened?
We had an amazing weekend, packed with adventure morning, noon, and night.
But it was exhausting in a way that Emily and I haven’t been exhausted in a long, long time. Screentime is as much for us as it is for them.
Golden Arches ain’t What they Used to Be
We took our kids to McDonald’s yesterday for the first time in their lives. It wasn’t nearly as magical as it was when I was a kid. I want to chalk that up to the wonder of youth, but really I think it’s just the fact that you can’t climb inside a giant hamburger head-slash-kid prison anymore.
The Magic of Snow Days
I published a story for Vox—my first for them—about what kids are missing out on when their schools go virtual on what traditionally would have been snow days.
You can read it here.
Look out for each other. See you next week.
Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend Lou. I, too, am grateful for all of the men who taught me in my youth. I spent the last 4th of July with my childhood friend's dad and I expressed to him how grateful I was for the time, attention and instruction he gave me as a youth. Cheers!