Smells Like Teen Spirit In Here

Can you believe it has been 10 years since I first started this blog? 10 years since I started documenting my life as a Dad. Well it’s time I checked in on myself and what better time than when my oldest child just turned 13!

Yep, if the title didn’t give it away, I now have an official eye rolling and always ready to eat all the groceries teen. To be fair he doesn’t so much roll his eyes as he just puts up with my attempts at humour.

It’s a new chapter, or dare I say, a new book of parenting that I am writing/living IRL as they say. We survived the terrible twos. The actually more terrible threes. Whatever was in between five and seven was a blur and then the pre-teen angst that seemed so cute and easy to manage. You know, when your kid thinks they have it so bad. That’s when I was eye rolling a bit.

But now. The unknown for us. I think I would have more success understanding the Metaverse at this point.

All I have to go on is remembering what life was like when I was 13. Fire up the microfiche machine.

Now I would definitely say our 13 year old has a lot of similarities to me at that age. Like me he’s super tall, super hungry and super helpful. But that only gets me so far when understanding how to be the parent of a teen in 2022.

Kyle Lowry, Walter White, March Madness and More

march 16 cover image

Well it’s Mid-March and we are officially a year into this mess known as the pandemic and now the media is pushing the arrival of the third wave. Cool.

Does anyone else feel like March 2020 and March 2021 have merged? Thank goodness I have an Instagram feed to remind me that the last 12 months existed. Seriously, if I close my eyes, I can instantly go back to this time last year and it feels like it is now. We were on the kid’s March Break, or March Broke as I was calling it, and trying to navigate staying busy with the boys.

It’s been a year since signing up for Disney +. It’s been a year since I started playing Red Dead Redemption. It’s been a year since I watched no March Madness.

Anyways, how are you? How is life going for you? Gotten your vaccine yet?

How about a brain dump?

I Can’t Believe it Has Been a Year!

COVID-19

As the 2021 calendar turned to March, the first thought I had was, we have been living the COVID-19 pandemic life for a year! Seriously, it has been 12 months of this shit. And while the vaccine rollout is happening (slowly), brighter days are finally ahead. But leaving February behind has been a mental kick in the gut if you take a moment to really reflect on the last 12 months.

For me my first memories of how it started was the daily tracking of the Diamond Princess. You remember? The floating coronavirus event that was really the first sign of what was to come. Reading in horror, all of the people trapped in their rooms literally. At the time, I doubt anyone felt that 12 months later we would all know the feeling. But it was on the other side of the planet. Everything was going to be okay and not reach Canada. Right?

4 Ways I Am Coping with Being Stuck at Home

Coping with being stuck at home

As we come up on one year of basically being stuck at home, I wanted to share four ways I am personally coping for the sake of my mental health.

We all have our own situation. Small businesses closed, others working from home, online school, no eating out, can’t see friends and family and the list goes on. Just walking outside feels like a luxury at this point.

I have written before on the benefits of us all being at home, but what about me? How am I personally getting my mind through the day? What small things are bringing me happiness?

Oh and to avoid anyone saying, what about your wife and kids bringing you joy, that of course should go without even being said. They get me through the down days and I do the same in return.

This post is about me and my solo time activities that take my mind off of vaccine roll outs, shots in arms (or lack of), daily pressers, washing hands and worrying about an unknown future.

It truly is a full-on battle for proper mental health and whatever you can find to bring you even 10 minutes of “normal”, I say go for it.

Here are just 4 of the ways I am coping with being stuck at home.

5 Positive Takeaways From Online School

5 positive takeaways from online school

“I don’t like online school, when is it over?” ~ Unnamed children in my household.

Does that sound familiar? The COVID-19 pandemic continues to play with our kid’s education like a yo-yo spinning up and down between in-person and online school. Everyone in our house was done. We were ready to return to the real life classroom, hopefully for good.

Cleared For Take Off – Well At Least More Steps

Uh this is your captain speaking. We are currently cruising the friendly skies at 35,00 feet, little turbulence and an air temperature of AWESOME.

See where I am going with this? Yes, I am getting better it seems. I had a family doctor appointment and a cardiologist appointment last week, and they were both great. The biggest issue was wax build up in my right ear. Considering where I was six weeks ago, I will take it.
More importantly, the heart has not caused me any issues. My two halter days showed perfection. The meds are doing what they are supposed to and my new diet is making a big difference.

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My Biggest Challenges So Far

It’s been just over a week since I arrived home from the hospital. Where I had to self regulate myself and not have the wonderful hospital staff do it all for me. The new diet. The new meds. The new way of just moving throughout my normal day. It’s all relatively small in the grand scale, but adjustments nonetheless.

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Here are my biggest challenges so far: