“How vain is it to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”

Henry David Thoreau

Back in 2017, Ashley and I traveled to Ireland. It was our first time on a plane, our first 9 hour flight, our first trip outside the States, our first time driving a foreign car across a foreign country.

Whenever you subject yourself to a new experience, if you’re wise, you set aside your ego in order to actually learn something new. You willingly become a fool.

From the time we arrived at the airport that first morning, to the moment we landed back in the U.S., we were fools. We made a lot of mistakes—but that’s ok. In hindsight, Ireland was one of the greatest adventures of our lives—in spite of our ignorance.

In our latest adventure titled, “Parenthood“, we are again, travelers in a foreign land. We have taken upon ourselves the yoke of the fool. To carry this burden means to fail. It means to stumble. It means to fall short of our ideals. It means bruised egos, sleepless nights, wasted coffee, spilled milk, puke sullied furniture, and a whole mess’ a learnin’!

Because with every epic failure—we learn something new. With every diaper whose contents radiate hot onto our skin like the exploded filling of a microwave burrito—we learn something new. Every bottle of more precious than gold, “pumped in the middle of the night alone on the couch breast milk”, that’s subsequently dropped on the floor—we learn something new.. We adapt. We become stronger.

Nobody told us parenting was going to be so hard. Oh wait, everyone told us parenting was going to be hard. Of course it’s hard—you become responsible for a tiny helpless human who requires EVERYTHING from you. It’s in his nature to cry when he’s hungry, tired, cold, hot, bored, etc. We knew this goin’ in, but it doesn’t make things easier.

Last week marks one month since Miles was born. It still seams surreal that we as humans can make another human and then be allowed to leave the hospital with said human—unsupervised. No amount of parenting books, or podcasts, or youtube videos can prepare you for the experience of becoming a parent.

As the cliche goes—there’s no instruction manual. That’s probably because you wouldn’t have time to read one if there were. These are uncharted territories, mysterious archipelagos, distant fog covered hills. These are the lost foreign highways of a country unknown—and we are the fools asking for directions.

That’s ok, because in the end, the fool becomes the hero—or Mom & Dad, as it were.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.“

Dr. Seuss

I leave you with a few aphorisms & general thoughts of the past several weeks that I’ve written down for memory. Maybe you’ve been there? Maybe you’ll find humor in them as we have.

“This learning curve is quite curvaceous.” —Ashley

“I now know where the phrase, “Don’t cry over spilled milk” comes from.”

“For whatever reason, I don’t know, but my phone won’t respond to my toe.” —Ashley

“My milk actually looks like milk.”
“That’s because it is milk.”
“I know, but it looks like cow’s milk.”
“Because it is like cow’s milk.”

“Thoughts appear & then disappear. A notebook is recommended.”

“Sorry man, kitchen’s closed.”

“Becoming a parent has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. But it’s also the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

“It was a night & day Difference. Meaning I didn’t sleep day or night.”

“It’s like I’m in college for breastfeeding.”

“I never thought I would laugh so hard at bodily functions.”