Every Dad

Every dad has a moment, usually early in his days as a parent, where he says the word "yucky" in normal, adult conversation. It's particularly embarrassing among co-workers.

What's worse, every dad has probably had plenty of those moments that they don't even remember because it slipped right by them.

For every dad, this is a moment where he realizes how fully invested in his parenting he's become. He realizes that the man he was 2, 5, 7, or 10 years ago used to laugh at guys just like him. At the guys who never seemed to have much to say beyond what tricks their toddler was doing. At the guys who seemed to just be waiting in the conversational line with other dads not to swap stories per se, but to state with some measure of authoritativeness and no measure of conversation just what it is that "We do with our kid."

He steps outside himself and sees just how he's changed. Maybe a part of him feels a certain measure of loss when imagining that guy of 2, 6, 7, or 10 years ago who was maybe a bit more fit, had a bit more disposable income, and seemed so much cooler. But in general he's content, because he realizes the gift that his children are.

But every dad goes it more alone than he needs to. He listens to every mom talk about the stories she's heard of other parents and their kids--the funny ones, the ridiculous ones, the ones that spark intense family policy discussions, etc. When he has questions about being every dad, he's not exactly sure who to talk to.

Let's face it. It's easy for every dad to get to the point to where he has more friends-in-law than friends (Your wife's friends' husbands). Every dad finds himself with less time for the kind of friendships that got him through high school, college, and those days of bachelorhood.

Well, this blog hopes to be a place where every dad can pop by, swap stories, good books, advice, whatever. There might even be time to talk sports, movies, or other such only-quasi-dad-related subjects. Hope you enjoy.