Everything Old Is New...

In 2008, I started a blog about fatherhood, or more specifically, my experiences being a father. At the time, my son was less than a year old, so the posts were largely centered around the joys (and more often, perils) of having an infant.

I kept writing, until 2010, when life, the universe, and everything simply sapped my time and energy, and the blog fell by the wayside. Apparently, in the intervening years, our all-knowing lord and master Google purged inactive blogs, such as mine, and all of that content was lost to the ether.

Just as well; I highly doubt anything I wrote at the time was particularly interesting or novel. (Spoiler alert; the same is likely true for this resurrected incarnation, but that's the risk you take, dear reader.)

The truth is, after 7 years of parenting, I've found that very few of my ideas or experiences are actually unique (I know, stop the presses, right?). Whatever existential angst this understanding might have caused me is overwhelmed by a resounding "meh", as I contemplate the fact that so it has been for every parent who has gone before me.

So what prompted me to breathe life back into this idea, which wasn't very good the first time around? Authenticity.

Seven years into this lifelong gig, the one thing that's held true for me as a person, outside of being a parent, is the necessity of living an authentic life. In trying to model behavior that I want my son to emulate, I have to have a frank and honest conversation with myself; is what I'm modeling really how I behave, or is it just something I'm doing for him? If it's the former, then there is an outside chance that the seeds I plant may sprout as he grows into a man, surviving the crucible of puberty and taking deep root in the core of who he defines himself to be.

But, if it's the latter, he'll suss that out immediately and recognize my hypocrisy faster than he wolfs down cupcakes at grandma's house.

So it's on me to be true and authentic. That is the the theme this reborn blog will explore, as it relates to parenting. And like parenting, I can't really guarantee much. I can't guarantee that I'll post as often as I'd like. I can't even promise the content will prove to be interesting. But like I'm trying to teach my son, I'll do my best along the way. If that's not the crux of parenting, then I don't know what is.