I am a very patient man. Always have been. That is, until Sam became a toddler. The biggest surprise I have experienced as a father is how quickly my patience has dwindled. I'm sure that part of this is that until I had children, nothing posed the challenge to my patience that a toddler poses. It is amazing how long a small being can take to do the most simple tasks. Wash hands. Take off clothes. Get a sip of water. Pee. Of course, I would like to think that by now, with Sam being 3, I have regained some of my patience--and, most of the time, this is true.

But there continue to be maddening times when I find my patience is thinner than I would like. I have adjusted to "toddler time", but not as much as I would like. Now, with Noah quickly on his way to toddlerdom, I have to make a more significant adjustment. I am not sure where this all comes from -- why the sudden lack or loss of patience? - but I don't like the way it feels. It is misaligned with who I strive to be as a parent and as a person, and correcting this misalignment is certainly one of my main goals for the year 2011.

Life as a Dad

I have now been a dad for 3 years and 2 months. While this by no means qualifies me as a professional, I have certainly learned a great deal over that time, and continue to learn more by the minute.
I never imagined that I would one day be a working dad. Somehow in my young mind, I figured that I would stay at home with my children while they were young. But life takes unexpected turns, and I now find myself as a working dad while my endlessly patient wife stays at home raising our 2 boys. I do not make a great living. I make enough money to pay our bills, albeit barely, put delicious food on the table for my family, and occasionally do something leisurely.
It is not easy. In fact, I would say that being a working dad is more of a challenge than anything that has come before me. I have lost a mother, a brother, grandparents, and friends. Those difficulties, in hindsight, have paled in comparison to the difficulty of supporting a family and trying to be the most positive, inspirational, unconditionally loving father and husband I can be to my two sons and my wife.
So that is the purpose of this blog. I aim to reflect on life as a dad and as a husband--with honesty and a sense of purpose--that purpose being to become a better person, and make the world immediately around me (as in my home) a better place for those who live in it. My hope is that I will inspire other fathers to do the same. For we are an odd group--men who desire to be better at our most important jobs--caring for our partners and our children unabashedly and without excuse.