Sometimes change happens all at once.
I have just begun my last day as a full-time at-home dad. Tomorrow my family heads back to school, and my youngest starts kindergarten. I’ll be at-home, but home alone.
It’s been an incredible journey, and one that fulfilled me professionally as well as personally, even as I almost always prioritized my family ahead of anything else.
In preparation over the last two years, I adopted the philosophy that I can start putting irons in the fire, knowing that by September 2016, they’ll be hot and I’ll be able to handle them.
Well, many of them got hot faster than expected; the last year, especially, has been extremely hard as I tried to handle the hot irons without enough time or mental capacity.
That changes tomorrow. I’m writing the next chapter in my professional life, even as I will remain a constant lifeline for my family.
I don’t know what my new normal will look like, but I’m looking forward to the discovery.
Thank you to my many colleagues who have tolerated and forgiven missed deadlines, overlooked emails, and work at less than my absolute best. I promise that will change.
Thank you to my extended family–my sons’ grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins–you have each helped enable me to be a professional during these hard years.
Thank you to my amazing Mandy; together we have made the sacrifices to enable me to be there for our sons, and together we have charted a journey I love so much.
Thank you most of all to my sons. This has been the best decade of my life and I am so thankful for every day I got to spend with you.