Tag: fatherhood

  • Trying to Be the Man of the House

    Most people who know me know the military stories. They know about Afghanistan and Iraq. They know about deployments, firefights, and the years I spent in the Army. What they usually don’t know is much about the life that came before the uniform. They don’t know the kid from Las Vegas. The teenager who spent…

  • Rage by a Thousand Cuts — A First-Person Stoic Reflection

    This morning wasn’t destroyed by one big thing.It was wrecked by a thousand tiny irritants — a soggy dish towel left in the sink, my son taking the last two bananas probably to smoke out of, chores undone even after I gave extra money, him dragging his feet and making everyone late, my wife getting…

  • From Duty to Dad: Navigating Fatherhood After War

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    I never really knew my dad.If you added up all the time I spent with him, it wouldn’t make six months. The first time I saw him, I was around eight, and I don’t remember doing much with him. The next time was as a preteen, and that round didn’t do me any favors —…

  • Life After Door Kicking: Why I Had to Start Writing or Explode

    What’s the story behind your nickname? “LifeAfterDoorkicking” came about while I was racking my brain for a name that captured the mess, meaning, and momentum of everything I wanted to say. I had this piece—this raw, unfinished, rewritten dozen-times-over piece—sitting in my phone notes, itching to break out of the screen and into the world.…