I heard this somewhere, and I tried to find the original author but to no avail, "In your 20s, you care about what everyone thinks about you. In your 30s, you stop caring what everyone thinks about you and in your 40s, you realize that no one ever thought about you in the first place”…

It’s fairly unusual for me not to know exactly what I want to write about in these blogs each month, but I think one theme that keeps coming up is TIME. How much time do we have left? In this life… in this house… in this role.. in this body… in this ______ you name it. No matter what you put in that blank, there’s a time limit to it.

Last week, we had an opportunity to celebrate my sister. We came together to grieve. We came together to talk about her legacy. And she leaves quite a legacy behind. Her biggest legacy being her little girls, who she asked every night, “Who helped you today?…Who did you help?”

By now, many of you know that the world tragically lost my sister, Joanna, on August 19th. She was shockingly diagnosed with Acute Leukemia on July 20th and less than a month later she was gone. As is her nature, she opted for the most aggressive treatment should could receive…

Earlier this month we made our first trip all together as a family of 6 + Alva (our Au Pair). We headed to Lake Tahoe to spend time with my brother, Gunnar and his wife, Allie. Allie’s grandfather bought their Tahoe home in the 70’s and it’s been a family retreat ever since…

I have a distinct memory as a 4 year old in '87 sitting in the backseat of my Mom’s maroon station wagon. My Grandfather won it in a raffle and gave it to her. It was one of those station wagons that the 'way back' seat faced backwards. The windows were all rolled down. Abundant sunshine shined through and salty sea air swirled all around me…

I was asked recently if there’s such a thing as ‘Dad guilt’, unequivocally that answer (at least for me) is yes. While I can only speak for myself, I can all but guarantee every Dad feels guilty at times about going to work, forgetting the schedule, or overreacting to a child’s behavior. I feel like I fail in at least one interaction on a daily basis…

It was one of the worst moments of my life. I watched my then 2.5 year old in a hospital gown being pushed through the double doors to the operating room. Him standing, clinging to the sides of the crib, while my wife and I watched his goofy smile change to a terrified look as he…

Just walk through the door. Just go. Try. Pretend. Fake it ‘til you make it. All of these internal pep talks have been present throughout my entire life. When I tell people how I used to be extremely shy, they are typically pretty surprised.

Our first road trip as a family of 6 was a spontaneous one. Spontaneous…a word I haven’t used to describe family life well….ever. But…we needed a change of scenery, BADLY.

I didn't know what it meant either until I did a quick internet search. It's a reference to when a child reaches the age that their parent was when he/she passed away. I'm not 55, which is how old my Mom was when she lost her 17 year battle with cancer, but...

Family First… no explanation needed. So much of life is about reaffirming the values you hold near and dear to your heart. The last few months have put that to the test.

Part II: The Old Guy

I'm not ready to give up playing soccer, no matter how badly I felt I played in my game a few weeks ago or because Dr. Google tells me my physicality is at a progressive decline.

I started to think about why I felt I played so terribly other than the obvious reasons…

Part 1: The Underdog

I still remember the feeling I had when I went to my first competitive club soccer tryout. To say I was intimidated, scared, and wanted to turn and run the other way is an understatement. I was 12 years old and in the world of club soccer, that’s considered old to tryout for my first team. All the other kids that were already on the team had the swag, the warm up jackets, and just looked so cool. I desperately wanted to be one of them…

Many people I meet now would never expect to hear this. I used to be painfully, painfully shy. Growing up when my family would go out to dinner, my little sister ordered for me because I was so shy I didn’t want to speak to the server. Fast forward 30+ years - that shy guy still lives inside. Now I tend to ignore his voice more than ever…

About a year ago in the Spring of 2021, I was reflecting on memories of my Stepdad Josh. Occasionally, he and I used to watch Jeopardy together. He would just bury me by answering questions before I finished reading the clue. I was always blown away with his retention of historical dates, facts, etc. For example, he’d ask if I knew a song, then without giving me a chance to answer would say, “I Wanna Rock by Twisted Sister, 1984”.

These days are all about preparation for the twins. If you’re new here, yes you read that right: TWINS. Fraternal twin boys coming sometime in the fall. That means my wife and I will be doubling our kid count from two to four… and 4 under 4!