Hello
I put my kids to sleep tonight.
Both of them.
Night
The first one that went down, Archer, is a year and a half young. He's a handful and loves exploring.
His favorite thing before bed is seeing Elmo. So, I load up Elmo on Twitter for him. Sometimes they have new photos or videos. It's actually Elmo's birthday today if you didn't know. He stays 3 ½ years old forever. I guess his birthday just celebrates that. My son loves seeing him.
Anyway, he fell asleep face down on my chest as I lay in his sister's bed to put him to sleep. He didn't want to go to sleep. He fought it... pushing his hands into my neck and mouth as I began singing 'twinkle twinkle' to him. For whatever reason, that song puts him to sleep and he knows it - which is why he fights it haha.
After I laid him down I cleaned up the kitchen and the rest of the house.
While I did that my oldest, Venus, was supposed to go to sleep in our room. Our here being my wife and I's room. You'd think with her almost being 5 she would just go to sleep, but she likes to stay up. Every night… it's a battle to get her to sleep. Nothing difficult anymore, just that she doesn't like to sleep on her own.
I'm sure every parent deals with that. It's fun at times for me.
Well anyway, she likes to read at night. Even if the lights are off, she'll try to read.
She can't actually read on her own yet, but she looks at the Dog Man pictures and sees the words and tries to pronounce them and say what they are. She'll do that for hours if I let her, but I don't. She needs her sleep.
After I was done with cleaning the kitchen I joined her.
Lights off, soft music playing on the Echo Dot, mom and dad's cozy blanket on top of us both. I listen, I read on my phone, I talk with her. She asks me questions.
Tonight's question was about glasses. "Why do people wear them?" she asked.
I had the privilege of explaining why I and so many others do. I pulled up (which I frequently do when teaching things) YouTube videos showing the difference between astigmatism and normal eyesight; showing her the difference between the two. She understood. Then it was more questions and statements about her day. Then quiet…. then 'I'll ask you something tomorrow'... then me asking if she wants me to cuddle her to help her fall asleep. She says yes.
A few minutes later the typical jolt of relaxation sets in and her sleep breathing takes over.
So.. that's my evening. Almost every day that's exactly what I do.
But why am I sharing this with you? Why at all?
These private moments with my kids and my wife (her name is Ashley by the way and I'll happily share more about our love story later) are so utterly sacred to me I can't - I don't want to - imagine a night when that isn't what I'm doing with my time.
What I want is more of these simple, fleeting moments.
For the last 15 years I've chased a paycheck. Whether out of desperation or desire, I was chasing money. To some extent I still am, but my reasons are different now.
Some money came easy and other money came hard… but the money always comes. Oftentimes when you least expect it.
What I've learned is that money is a stupid thing to chase.
If I had all the money in the world I wouldn't even know what to do with it. It's a placeholder. A way to buy back tomorrow whatever it is you've built today.
The only thing you can't buy back is your time.
That's what I want now… Time. I want my time.
I want my time more than anything else and I'll do what I need to to ensure that.
I want my time for these incredible moments that go by too quickly.
Because the truth is I don't know how much time I've got and I want to spend it with the ones I love most.
I am stepping off into this new adventure… this.. expedition.. of everyday life.
I want you to join me as I do.
I want you to join me as I explore these beautiful fleeting moments, these undiscovered places, the love that surrounds us so much everyday, and realize – truly realize – how amazing and incredible this journey of life really is.
My promise is to open my life to you. The good, the bad, the ugly, the details worth mentioning… I want to share it with you.
I don't know if these writings, these videos…. this story…… will make your life better or not, but I hope it does. I hope you find some meaning or connection through my story, my family's story.
I just have a deep feeling that what I have is worth sharing.
Come join our expedition through this beautiful, crazy life.
Truly yours,
Sean