Tag: life

Forgive Me, Father…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately.

You’ll notice, obviously, that it’s been a little while since my last post. This is largely because I’ve been thinking, as opposed to writing. That, plus the fact that I’ve been working overtime at my job, Hebrew school has started for both my wife and me, I lead junior congregation services at a synagogue on the high holidays and I have a fifteen-month-old child who has decided it’s his mission in life to break world records for speed in making messes of our living room. So time to write has been hard to come by.  Continue reading “Forgive Me, Father…”

School Is Back In Session

I’ve always been a big fan of summer.

This is not a shocking revelation, I’m sure; lots of people love summer. Summer is all about freedom. Fewer rules, fewer schedules, fewer responsibilities. School is out; camp and vacations are in. You’ve heard of casual Fridays? My wife’s job had casual summers. And even though I work full time as a social worker, summers are a bit easier for me because it’s a lot easier to schedule home visits with families when their kids are out of school.  Continue reading “School Is Back In Session”

Debut of the SAHM

When you meet a person for the first time a common topic of conversation is what you do for a living. Or, at least, the question “Where you do work?” is asked. When E was only a few months old my initial response was always “I don’t work; I stay home with my son.” Now E is 14 months old and my response has changed drastically. This past year has shown me just how wrong my earlier answer was, as well as how so many people have preconceived notions about what it means to be a stay-at-home-mother (SAHM).  Continue reading “Debut of the SAHM”

Rise of the Machines

I went to Disney World for the first time for my 21st birthday.

I usually get a number of different reactions to that statement, including “Oh, that’s so cute!” and “I’ve had so much more fun at Disney when I’ve been older” and “Really? Your 21st birthday was at Disney? And your first legal drink was a Michelob Light?”[1]

My first visit to Disney World and the subsequent discussion of when my wife and I will be introducing E to Disney are both topics for a different blog entry. The reason I brought up Disney is because while T and I were there, we went on the “ride” at Epcot all about evolving technology and the ways technology affects our daily lives.  Anyone who’s been to Epcot knows exactly the ride I’m talking about.  It’s the one where you sit in the seats and see the same family living room over the course of different decades and they sing that song, “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” over and over again. And while I’m not sure today is particularly greater, bigger or more beautiful than yesterday[2], I have been thinking a bit more about the ways technology is changing and what that’s going to mean for E as he grows up.  Continue reading “Rise of the Machines”

When Did I Become an Expert?

Perception is everything.

Of course, “everything” changes depending on the context. In real estate, location is everything. On tests, preparation is everything. In religion, it’s faith. In sports, it’s being able to make adjustments to your opponent.[1] But in life in general, it’s all about perception.

The way we perceive our environment has a direct correlation to the ways we interact with it. A simpler way is to think of the conventional difference between optimism and pessimism. Imagine a crowded rush-hour subway, for instance. The train is moving at normal speed until, just before the stop where many of the passengers will exit, the train stops because of train traffic. The pessimist likely starts getting upset because he is assuming he will now be late for work. The optimist may get upset also, but “looks on the bright side of life”[2] by saying that at least he gets to spend more time in the air conditioned subway car before going out into the hot and terribly humid New York City air. One sees the glass half empty, the other sees it half full.[3] It’s all about how we see things.  Continue reading “When Did I Become an Expert?”

What I Didn’t Expect

(Sorry for the delay in posts.  Work and preparations for E’s birthday party have kind of dominated the last two weeks.)

Parenting is a weird business.

Weird may not be the best word for it; I just chose it because there are so many different ways of looking at being a parent and so many different things to experience that “weird” seems like a catch-all word.  Parenting is the one job[1] I can think of that can make a person laugh, cry and want to punch a hole in the wall all in the span of five minutes.  It’s exhilarating and heart-wrenching, amazing and overwhelming, all at once.  The biggest thing about being a parent, though, is this:

You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.  Continue reading “What I Didn’t Expect”

Yup, I’m 30.

Time is a very weird thing.

There are moments when I feel like I’ve been doing something for twenty minutes or so and it turns out I’ve been there for a few hours (T will vehemently disagree, but our son’s birth was sort of like this for me). And then there are other points when it seems like the second hand literally could not be moving any slower if it wanted to (“The flight is how long???”). Time flies or it drags on, but the point is that it’s always moving.

Yes, today is my birthday. Yes, I’m now 30. But no, I don’t really feel that weird about it.  Continue reading “Yup, I’m 30.”

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