The last night of Chanukah has come and gone but unlike years past I didn’t have to spend hours assembling toys that make noise or stare angrily at relatives who gave my children far too many gifts.
Yeah, it was A Different Chanukah Celebration and but not one where I would automatically say You Know How The Story Ends because I am not the only person who took part in this one and the additional people all have their own tales to tell.
The children will always be a central part of my journey but my involvement in theirs changes as time goes by and as they grow more independent my role evolves.
And that aforementioned independence is the most rewarding and difficult part of it all because if parents do a proper job our kids reach a place where they don’t want us around the same way because they don’t need the same help.
Truth is, I am good with that.
Part of being a dad blogger is being able to respond to requests like You Should Blog About Raising Strong Daughters with tales and stories that illustrate that sort of success.
What Kind Of Blogger Are You Anyway?
Every few months someone asks me to define what kind of blogger I am and I ask them why it matters.
I am the kind of blogger that has a burning fire in his gut that never dies out. The guy who pushes every limit he comes up against and some he doesn’t.
The guy who sings along with Toby Keith and Sting when they perform I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying and who takes the time to try and clean up the old clutter and crap that fills the pages of this joint.
Sometimes that takes me to old posts where we ask and answer if you can have too much sex.
Many of those old posts are littered with comments from people who once were daily readers and or bloggers themselves.
Sometimes I wonder where they went and if they are ok. Sometimes I click on their names to see if they are still writing and I discover a blog that hasn’t been updated in forever.
Kind of makes me feel like I am the Indiana Jones of the blogosphere, except I don’t write while wearing a Fedora, use a bullwhip to control unruly sentences or call myself Indiana.
Hell, no one calls me Indiana nor am I an archeologist, I am just a man with a keyboard and a willingness to write.
But I do have a sense of adventure, am not afraid of snakes and am willing to take big chances.
Big & Bolder Pictures
I moved from the previous theme because I wanted to use bigger and bolder pictures here.
Figured that if pictures are worth a thousand words I could draw upon some of those to tell a better story and to help create the picture I want to paint in your mind.
Haven’t always felt like I have done it as effectively as I would like to, but I am working on it. Speaking of working on things, I just figured out how to make an image in the post stretch across all the way from A to Z.
Now that I know how I’ll probably do it with some more frequency, see if it makes a difference in the experience you readers have.
Maybe it will make one or two more people decide to comment, maybe it won’t. But if you don’t try and you don’t ask you probably won’t get what you want.
Reminds me of a philosophical debate between want, need, deserve and get but I digress.
Linkbait Is Calorie & Guilt Free
Way back when we started the blog and wrote without thought or idea that others might choose to read these words there wasn’t any such thing as linkbait or at least I don’t remember it.
We weren’t being crushed by content or overwhelmed by the bells and whistles of the Internet and social media so we didn’t need to come up with goofy crap to try to get people to click on our links.
But there comes a revolution and it brings change with it so as the content tsunami bore down upon us I decided to have some fun with my headlines.
Some of it was my response to the gurus who claimed there was only one way to find success in the blogosphere and some of it is because it is fun writing silly headlines.
Blogs and bloggers who don’t have fun don’t last.
Dad Didn’t Get Any Chanukah Gifts
The kids noticed that I didn’t receive any Chanukah gifts and asked me if that upset me.
I told them I was fine and I am. Got a list of things I want but very few of those are things I need and I’ll wait to get them.
Did my best to turn it into a teaching moment too, because it is critical to understand the difference between want and need.
When Steiner the minor gave me some teenage lip I looked at him and said I want to eat pizza but I need to breathe.
As he scrunched up his face and tried to tell me that didn’t make sense I told him if you focus on figuring out what you need as much as we need to breathe it helps eliminate the non-essential items.
“Dad, that is kind of extreme, aren’t there better examples?”
“There might be, but my belly is full of steak and latkes, so I might not be giving you my ‘A’ game. Remind me to revisit this with you later or ask the Magic 8 Ball for some advice.”
“Sometimes I wonder if I have the only father in the world who can be so damn goofy.”
“Goofy is better than creepy, now scram. I need to grab five minutes of shut-eye.”
He smiles at me and tells me I am getting old, but he is wrong.
I am not getting older, I am just getting better. Hell, I am just getting started, I know how I want the story to end.
I may not have an exact map for how to get there, but I know what I want it to look like. Guess I’ll find out if I succeeded when I get there.
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