The First (And Often Last) Post

Let's be honest, how often has someone started a blog with great intentions on making posts every day (or at least a few times a week) and then failed miserably. I will admit, that was me... Twice. So perhaps the third time really is the charm. Anyways, I created this blog for three reasons:

1.) Because I am WAY too lazy to keep a journal written by hand. Pretty sure my words/minute are about 100 times faster on a computer, not to mention my writing is practically illegible and my journal does not have spell check. However, I think writing down thoughts, musings and inspirations are great to reflect upon and a great thing to pass down to generations yet to be. I would love to read journals kept by my family members had they existed. I would love for my children to be able to look back upon a blog like this and get a glimpse of what their lives were like before they can remember. Especially to see it from a perspective that they couldn't ever know: their father's.

2.) Because I want to write a blog that is totally honest. My wife subscribes to a ton of blogs, and most of them are just facades of what the author's lives really are. Families are reduced to super-fun outings, Photo-shopped pictures and achievements and milestones. Almost no one writes about the hard times and day-to-day inconveniences and trials of raising and leading a family in the real world. Having children is a great blessing, for sure!!! However, unlike how most blogs would have you believe, it is also one of the most challenging and often frustrating tasks a person could ever take on (besides perhaps putting up with enough crap to get a PhD, the other source of agony in my life currently).

3.) Because hopefully (and this may be optimistic) readers will take away at least a small fraction of knowledge or inspiration from the things I hope to discuss here. Even better, maybe I can stimulate intelligent conversation and engage readers in topics that I find interesting in order to get different perspectives.

So the title "On Being a Dad", while it may mislead some to believe this is a parenting blog, was really meant as an indication of the perspective and station in life for which I view things. My life has changed more since having children than probably any other single event in my short time on earth. Having children and a family not only causes a person to rethink their opinions on a vast array of issues, but also forces us to think about things we may have never even contemplated before!

I hope to be diligent, and even if my aspirations are lofty perhaps at the very least there is some self-serving benefit in writing down my thoughts. Until the next post.