I don’t normally take the entire day off on Christmas Eve, but I decided to this year, and we visited the new ice skating arena that opened a couple miles from our house the previous weekend. I hadn’t skated in years, and the 3 children had never even attempted it. […]
Author: dadcation
How I conquered the sound of silence
In late 2003, I came back from Iraq, finished school, and started looking to buy a house. A few months later, I moved into a gentrifying area of Atlanta. I loved my little house, as long as it was never silent. Silence reminded me I was alone. Silence reminded me […]
How to enjoy a Bama game without being at the game
Since 1988, there has been but one voice worthy of exclaiming the magical words “Touchdown Alabama!” and that voice belongs to Eli Gold. The only problem is…he’s on the radio, and if the ‘Bama game is on TV, I gotta listen to whoever the station carrying the game has hired […]
How to “single parent” a sick 4-year-old
The day before Thanksgiving, I had a mediation set for 9am. A couple hours later, my client and I realized the insurance company was not going to bridge the still-remaining $500,000 gap, so we left. I checked my phone. My bride and the 3 small children had been at the […]
Thank you, Muhammad
Among the pages of captioned color photographs from my 2003 deployment is one that sticks out. There’s a woman in uniform, not unlike every other picture I have of persons in Iraq. But then there’s this guy. He has no BDU t-shirt or DCU pants; he’s in a white cotton […]
a day in New York City
As I pulled my suitcase into the kitchen Sunday morning where the children were having cereal, my 8-year-old daughter asked where I was going. “I’m going to see a friend I made when I was the age you are now.” The stated reason for my trip Sunday afternoon was to […]
Halloween 2014
The 8-year-old started reading the “Harry Potter” books a few months ago; she’s finishing the last installment in the 30-45 minutes of extra awake time we give her after bath time. Naturally, she wanted to dress like Hermione for Halloween this year. So, we let her. But what about the […]
The annual St. Simons Island visit as a #healthydad (hopefully)
Every year in October since passing the bar exam in 2004, I come spend a few days at St. Simons Island for a continuing legal education (“CLE”) seminar on workers’ compensation law. The first several years, when I was a 20-something, it was an exercise in seeing how much I […]
Asheville, NC
Several years ago, when I was what older paralegals call a “baby lawyer,” I worked for an insurance defense firm that had an event each summer called the “associate retreat” that meant going out of town for a weekend with the people I saw every day at work, so we […]
DisneyWorld
We didn’t tell the children they’d be spending the weekend preceding the boy’s 6th birthday at one of the 4 Disney theme parks. I unassumingly signed up for a legal conference covering veterans disability claims to be held in Orlando, booked a room at the Shades of Green resort, and […]