Sunday… Evening Brunch?
A Small Note After A Big Week
Today there is no official Sunday Brunch… well I reckon at this moment it’s more of a Sunday Dinner haha. Today I went to the Maryland Renaissance Faire with my wife and some friends! I’m going to be real with you, I had no clue what to expect. For some reason I thought it was going to be on concrete slabs with tons of vendors trying to sell me their crafts. I guess I was wrong - to those who never been, the MD Renfaire is on a wooded lot, with permanent structures and theaters, and it’s absolutely massive. To make up for an abridged newsletter this week, here’s a photo of my wife and me being happy together - see ya’ll next week!
Family Slice: We Should Value Tenderness
Alright, this week I just have one thought for you.
Last Friday, my kids chose to watch Air Bud. I feel like this needs a little bit of context because you might be thinking, "Air Bud?" Well, Kim grew up watching a lot of family movies and, at some point, she realized that our son really loves them. Whether it's Elf, Home Alone, or That Darn Cat, my 8-year-old gives new meaning to ROFL.
Fast forward to me coming home from my workout around 6 PM, and my family has already cozied up for their Friday Movie night. As I enter, laughter fills the house, and both kids giggle with the best sounds ever produced by humankind. After I learned that we were watching Air Bud, I settled on the couch to eat dinner and watch the rest of the movie.
Here's a rundown of the emotional roller coaster that is Air Bud:
Starting off strong, we meet a golden retriever who is forced to perform with his clown owner and gets punished when things go wrong. Keeping the intense feels going, we then learn that middle schooler Josh just moved to town after his pilot dad died in a test flight accident. What follows is a mixture of lighthearted hijinks of a boy and dog meeting and playing basketball together, sprinkled with commentary on abusive dads and coaches.
Spoiler alert: Buddy's owner comes to pick him up again. As I look over to my daughter, I already notice the tears in her eyes. Later, Josh breaks into the house of Buddy's owner and steals him back but, in his infinite wisdom, decides to "White Fang" him (read: shoo him away with big tears because it's in Buddy's “best interest”). My daughter started wailing and held my wife tight. As I looked over to my boy, I asked him, "Are you OK?" and he too had tears in his eyes. Of course he did – that's what we've modeled for both our kids. When you feel tears well up, why in the world would you want to suppress them?
So, where am I going with this? Well, last week at the DNC, Gus Walz cried out "That's my dad!" in a proud moment that should've been interpreted as... well, a proud moment. It didn't take too long for a mild aftershock of disdain to happen on social media. You may know that I'm not on socials too much anymore, so I had to hear this secondhand, but ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
So I'm just going to quote this part of a fine article by John Pavlovic:
We should normalize young men crying.
We should celebrate families like the Walzes.
We should value tenderness and empathy whenever they show up.
In a world that can sometimes feel tense, let's make sure we're folding in plenty of tenderness and empathy into our family recipe. After all, the warmest, most comforting dishes are often the ones made with a generous helping of heart.
Pie to Go
🎓 School is starting again. Yes, I know, school has started for most but our school starts the 28th. I’ve seen all ya’ll’s (RIP Captain Holt) “first day of school” photos and trust me, I am not amused. We homeschooled our eight year old for the last two years, which meant extra cuddles every single day. Now I’m expected to drop off both my kids and just enjoy my new found freedom? I don’t think so, I’m going to be salty about it and cry.
🏐 On a brighter note - my Stonewall volleyball team finally won a single set in sand volleyball. The only downside was, I wasn’t there. So I guess this isn’t a bright note after all? 😂
💄 I think I’m getting really good with makeup. Everything I’m trying to do succeeds. For the Ren Faire today I wanted to do a pink smokey eye and it just worked. I think I have some work to do on contouring so if anyone in RVA is good at contouring and wants to give me a masterclass, please hit me up!