Tag: adulthood

Peace

It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, the picture is worth just over 450. For day three of the week, I thought I’d try something a little different from my usual essays. I’d love to hear what you think, positive, negative or anywhere in the middle. Enjoy!

A soft breeze drifts through the backyard, drawing a slight rustle from the leaves in the neighbors’ trees. The trees that used to tower above the yard, whose leafy tendrils had formed a canopy that practically blocked out the sun entirely, have been felled. One massive stump is now a work table, currently holding smaller blocks of wood whose future use has yet to be determined. The other two still reach about ten feet high but their branches have been replaced by a single wooden beam that crosses the space between them. A swing hangs down in the middle, a trapeze and pair of rings to its left.  Continue reading “Peace”

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

It’s been an eventful week. We saw a lot of my family last week, between my dad being in town and the brunch for my newly engaged brother. Today, though, is all about T’s side of the family (you’ll see why pretty quickly). Today’s post is the latest from the SAHM, with only some minor comments from me here and there. I may write more on this topic later in the week, but this one is more T than anything.

Cancer.

It’s a tiny word that carries such a big punch. We hear about it on the radio and see signs discussing it on buses and trains. We watch our favorite TV doctors dissect, resect and administer drugs. But we, as outsiders, never expect “cancer” to affect our immediate world. It’s one of those things that we always think happens to “someone else,” like robberies or car accidents or getting struck by lightning. And then, out of left field, when you are least expecting it… The surreal punch; one word.  Continue reading “Laughter Is The Best Medicine”

Post-Father’s Day Thoughts

It’s been an eventful week for my family. My dad was in town last week, E’s second birthday party was on Saturday, Father’s Day was on Sunday and there’s more going on this week too. There has been a lot going on in my head so I’m going to try to make sense of it all in separate blog posts each day this week. The posts may be a bit shorter as a result, but there will be more of them, so I suppose it evens out. As always, any sort of feedback is always welcome.

Father’s Day is a weird day.

I wrote about Father’s Day last week, but now that the day has actually passed, I’ve had some more time to think about it. I understand the general premise of the day; as important as it is to appreciate the people we love all year round, it’s nice to take one specific day and designate it just for those people. Birthdays are like that too, obviously, but days like Father’s Day and Mother’s Day celebrate the effort that goes into the “hardest jobs in the world.”  Continue reading “Post-Father’s Day Thoughts”

Happy Father’s Day

I don’t ask for things very often.

I don’t mean I don’t ask for help often. It’s also true that I don’t ask for help, even when the rational side of my brain knows that doing so will make my life easier, but that’s a different discussion for another blog post. I mean that I don’t ask for things. Hanukkah, anniversary, birthday… You name the special occasion, I still don’t ask for anything. My wife will tell you that her least favorite question to ask me is, “What do you want for ________?” because my answer is invariably, “I don’t know.”1  Continue reading “Happy Father’s Day”

New York Metro Parents Interview

New York Metro Parents is one-stop shopping for all things parenting in the New York City area. Whether you’re looking for parenting techniques, local kid-friendly attractions, educational resources, special needs service providers or just about anything else a parent could need, New York Metro Parents has it. Also, their “Stuff We Like” section is all about New York City area parent bloggers and they recently interviewed me about Sleeping on the Edge so they could feature me on the site. Here’s the article in all its glory.

Enjoy!  Continue reading “New York Metro Parents Interview”

Dear E: Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged

Dear E,

Last week was my birthday. I turned 31 on Thursday and, even though we didn’t celebrate much on the day itself because I have late home visits on Thursdays, your mom made a fantastic dinner on Wednesday night and we celebrated some more over the weekend. You got me a card, made me a sign that said “Happy Birthday Daddy” and gave me a collage of photos of the two of us, all of which helped to brighten up what was otherwise a fairly gloomy day.1 So I wanted to say thanks for that.  Continue reading “Dear E: Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged”

Life of Dad Podcast

For those of you who weren’t aware, Life of Dad is a website that was created originally as one dad’s personal blog and evolved into a social network for dads. It’s in the tagline and everything: “The Social Network for Dads.” Anyway, the guys who run the site have a ton of podcasts that they publish on a regular basis, or that other guys put out and they sponsor, including the Life of Dad Show, Super Dad Show and Bobblehead Dad Parenting. One of their other shows, the Life of Dad After Show, focuses specifically on interviewing dad bloggers about their families, their blogs and anything else that might come up in a free-flowing conversation. They had me on earlier this week and I figured I’d post it here for your listening pleasure.

Enjoy!  Continue reading “Life of Dad Podcast”

“Don’t Cry, It’s Only a Joke.”

I see a lot of different things when I’m working.

I have three separate jobs, so this is to be expected. I work full-time as a social worker, providing case management and counseling services to families who have children with mental health and behavior problems. I also have two part-time jobs at my local synagogue, teaching religious school classes to middle school students and leading junior congregation services a few times each month.  Continue reading ““Don’t Cry, It’s Only a Joke.””

Miracle of Miracles

I don’t remember my family hosting a lot of big parties when I was young. We had family parties here and there through the years and we hosted a couple of birthday parties for my brothers and for me, but we didn’t have many huge gatherings at our house. The biggest gathering I remember was for my brother’s brit milah1 just after he was born. When I was in middle and high school, my family joined with a group of other families from our synagogue and we started a rotation of holiday parties and other Jewish activities, but we only hosted a few of them. My wife’s family, on the other hand, went all out for everything. They would have between 20 and 30 people at their house for every holiday and would make enough food for twice that many.2 I’m not saying her family did holidays better than mine, just that we had different experiences growing up. And I like to think that now that we’re married and have started our own family, we’ve done a pretty good job of combining traditions from each of our experiences.  Continue reading “Miracle of Miracles”

Celebrating a Championship

As you may have heard (or read, seen personally, etc.), the Chicago Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup earlier this week. I mentioned that they were in the final in my last post, focusing there on the idea of the way our superstitions affect – or, more likely, don’t affect – sports games.[1] My extremely generous wife agreed to stay home with our sleeping son while I went to a bar with my brother[2] so that we could watch together. Sports are always more fun when they’re shared so we went out, we drank, we ate, we watched and most importantly, the Blackhawks won.  Continue reading “Celebrating a Championship”

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