Still a coach. Still a daddy. Just not Coach Daddy anymore.
My girls and I – we have a song together.
For the A to Z Challenge today, J is for Jammable. Electric Light Orchestra qualifies as Jammable. In particular, “Mr. Blue Sky.” It’s the official soundtrack for my girls and me.
I know Jeff Lynne had other things in mind when he penned the lyrics, but to me, it’s a trip through fatherhood.
Today, I’ll deconstruct it …
Who are you? Who am I?
In the A to Z Challenge today, I stands for Identity. It shifts from generation to race to our tribe to our interests. I am Generation X, Hispanic, dad blogger and soccer coach. I’m others, too, in the moment (Pizza Friday) and beneath the surface (Kesha Appreciator).
In April, I’m also Allergy Sufferer and Haircut Needer.
I’m Back Scratcher, Mess Maker, Soda Drinker and Rockies Fan. The final question in Go Ask Daddy gave me license to examine another side of me, the fantastical superhero side that just didn’t die in my childhood.
Continue reading “A to Z Challenge: I is for Identity (Go Ask Daddy)”
It’s convenient cosmic to have G Day fall on Guest post day on Wednesday. .
Today in the A to Z Challenge, H is for Hilary. As in, Hilary Grossman. You know her as author of the Feeling Beachie blog. She’s a frequent commenter on the CD, and many of you frequent her beachfront property, too.
Weeks ago, she asked for four fill-in-the-blank statements for her Friday blog hop.
I responded, with this:
I know – that one was easy.
In the A to Z Challenge, G is for Guest Post. Convenient, that this falls on Wednesday, my usual spot for guest posts. Especially because my guest poster today – Robin, of Masshole Mommy – has no Gs in her blog name.
She’s here writing about life before her two Gs though – her sons. What is a G, you ask? Let’s refer to the Urban Dictionary for all my homies from the other side of the tracks (and by that I mean any neighborhood nicer than mine):
G – (jee) A real G can be defined as someone who is true to themself and stood the test of time as a robust individual, whom did not change under rough circumstances.
Continue reading “A to Z Challenge: G is for Guest Post (From Robin, of Masshole Mommy)”
I’ve found parenthood much like sports, in that you try your best in the moment, but after the final whistle, you can look back on so many moments and beat yourself up for not doing more.
In the A to Z Challenge, F is for Failure. My friend Meredith at Perfection Pending blog wrote of her stalker. She (the stalker, not Meredith) is an awful woman, “full of negativity, ‘shoulds’ and ‘you’re not good enoughs.’ The stalker? It was her. Meredith. Always harping on her about how she’d failed.
Failed as a mom, failed as a woman.
Parents know this feeling, right? It’s what nags us for not doing enough. Or doing too much. Or doing the wrong thing. Little regrets, and big regrets, that leave us questioning ourselves. We compare ourselves to others, to our expectations.
What’s harder on a parent’s heart than a disappointed kid?
For Day 5 of the A to Z Challenge, E is for Empathy. It feels hopeless to see our kids sad. What can we do? We can hope, we can love, and we can never leave their side, that’s what. A parent’s default – a dad’s, especially – is to fix everything. Even when he can’t.
Last week I wrote about the way Madison flings her body around the soccer pitch as a goalkeeper.
Pride swells when she stops a goal and her teammates voice appreciation –in words and intensified play. She’s a spark plug. She’s also a tether ball, smacked and kicked and sent this direction and that. I wince every time. I want to run on the field to protect her.
My Spanish proficiency depends on my usage, directly.
For Day 4 of the A to Z Challenge, D is for Dificil. As in, the Spanish word for difficult. It’s difficult to raise children in a multicultural home when the most ethnic thing about me is that I know all the words to La Bamba.
And that I can eat refried beans without your run-of-the-mill Caucasian repercussions.
I placed out of foreign language requirements in college, but I’m lousy at being Latino.
It’s the place to take the kids at halftime.
For Day 3 of the A to Z Challenge, C is for Corner Flag. It’s away from the bench, still far from the parents, and a great spot for me to sit Indian style (as a child of the 70s, I’ll use this term) and talk over what just happened in the first half.
Just add a gaggle of Gatorade swigging kids.
It’s a bit of a refuge, the corner flag.
Continue reading “Go Ask Daddy: C is for Corner Flag #A to ZChallenge”
What could be better than to smell breakfast to start your day?
Well, to taste breakfast, of course. If smelling breakfast is a goal, tasting breakfast is a hat trick. In today’s A-to-Z challenge, I’m talking B, for breakfast. It’s about the smell of breakfast on a Saturday morning. It’s the aroma of pancakes and bacon, or waffles and hash browns.
The ribbon of delicious airborne goodness that slinks to upstairs bedrooms, of rising flapjacks with just enough Mexican vanilla in them to shake you from your dreams.
Last fall, my friend Jen from Jen Groeber: Mama Art blog wrote a post called The Nose, A Life in Smells.
Just a dad ... 