and don't criticize what you can't understand...

so...more than a few years have passed between my posts. sorry - but stuff got real for a while - and i took some time to figure myself out and be the best dad that i could. has much changed? not really...still the same guy just looking for meaning, clarity, and optimism in the world. the latter of those is what leads me to start this blog up again.

today caps off a surreal weekend of change for my family and our home - with the closure of schools nationwide, fear and panic buying of toilet paper(?), and my beginning an extended wfh time. i am not sure whether to feel skeptical, sarcastic, scared, or totally excited. why excited? well i am trying to look at the optimistic angle of this new reality...i get to try something i have always wanted to do - spending more time with my boys, building and reinforcing some new habits, carving out more time for my gf, and focusing on my house and home. this is like a swift kick in the butt. yesterday, i felt like there was this ceiling just over my head, like a pall or calm before the storm. like the world was holding it's breath...waiting to exhale.

what about me? i am going to take some notes on how i feel as i navigate through the next few weeks - and write them down here with a song to go along. take care of each other and yourself - and keep in touch!

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the times they are a-changin' -- bob dylan

come gather 'round, people wherever you roam
and admit that the waters around you have grown
and accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone
if your time to you is worth savin'
and you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone
for the times they are a-changin'

come writers and critics who prophesize with your pen
and keep your eyes wide the chance won't come again
and don't speak too soon for the wheel's still in spin
and there's no tellin' who that it's namin'
for the loser now will be later to win
for the times they are a-changin'

come senators, congressmen please heed the call
don't stand in the doorway don't block up the hall
for he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled
the battle outside ragin'
will soon shake your windows and rattle your walls
for the times they are a-changin'

come mothers and fathers throughout the land
and don't criticize what you can't understand
your sons and your daughters are beyond your command
your old road is rapidly agin'
please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand
for the times they are a-changin'

the line it is drawn the curse it is cast
the slow one now will later be fast
as the present now will later be past
the order is rapidly fadin'
and the first one now will later be last
for the times they are a-changin'