To be honest, I’m not even sure how to begin – I’ve been spilling out my fatherly angst in poems for years now, trying to find humor in the everyday survival of child  raising.   I believe there are plenty of other parents out there like me, who feel like they’re living in a sitcom – wondering when the laugh-track is suddenly going to kick in as they wash yogurt off the front porch and pick dirty socks out of the trees(that happened just this week).  Do I read blogs?  Not a lot.  Do I have time?  Not really.  Am I doing this right?  Probably not.    But here goes…

I guess I should mention a little about myself here.  I’ve been working at home for about 15 years now.  I wanted to have more “normal” hours when we had kids.  I was also hoping to write an awesome screenplay or two, since I actually work in the entertainment industry.  (movie/tv advertising to be exact)  But I only had about a year before kid #1 was born – and since that point, nothing has been as expected.  I knew I wouldn’t get sleep… but I didn’t realize how little.  I knew it would be challenging… but I didn’t realize how challenging.  Life moved from big dreams of Hollywood success to the battle of daily survival.  SLEEP WAS KING!  My first son never slept for more than 4 hours at a time, and my 2nd son – who came 20 months later – didn’t sleep much better.  Anything beyond the “real” work and child-rearing was pretty much side-lined.

Sometime, a few years into this whole Dad thing, my wife grew sick of me whining about lack of time and sleep and dreams, and pointed out I should probably plug it into something worthwhile.  And thus the poetry… It was silly.  It was therapeutic.  And most especially, it was fun turning my real-life angst into something humorous and productive.  My first poem was “Ode to the Plungerman” – after having to plunging the toilet for the 3rd time in a week.  For some reason, Mom never does the toilet plunging.  Or am I the only sucker?

Honestly, I could probably fill pages and pages with fatherly angst… and I’m sure many parents out there could too.  Is it a great source for inspired poetry?  I think so.  And a blog seems like a great place to share the experience in a more immediate setting too.  I’m actually looking forward to it and I’m hoping someone, anyone, will tag along to share this journey.  I’m pretty sure I’m not alone.  A lot of people have written about the challenges of kids, and sleep, and behavior, but what I’ve discovered is that there is never a “right” answer.  What works one day, doesn’t seem to work the next.  WHY IS THAT??  The best way to handle everything is to just learn to laugh.  Frankly, I know it isn’t easy – especially me.  Try laughing when a leaky diaper gets poop on your clothes, and your car, and your computer bag (you can almost cue the laugh-track – except its not a sitcom, its you!)  Oh, and I guess it would be cool to sell this book of poetry too.  (they’ll be plenty more about that later)

Finally, I promise it won’t all be about plunging toilets. (for the record, I haven’t had to plunge a toilet in at least 2 weeks!)

Thanks for reading.

Sanderson