Couldn't Pull Out Of A Driveway

There was once in my life, not so long ago, when I was grossly naive on exactly how much attention children needed. I was in late teens and early twenties and eagerly wanted four kids, two girls and two boys to be exact. Then the Almighty blessed me with my first gift, a girl who’s wise well beyond her years. Life was good until she turned three years old and the true manifestation of “toddlerdom” took over our household. We were wholly unprepared for the carnage that ravaged our once blissful non-child life. We swore off having more children, but didn’t really do anything to avoid them. As the saying goes, God has a peculiar sense of humor. The punchline was baby number two. This time the Arehs were blessed with a boy, more my clone than Boba Fett (Star War nerds will get that). So now we have two kids, four and a half years apart, with different needs and competitive cries for attention. Gone is that dreamy-eyed twenty-something who thought having four kids would be a walk in the proverbial park. Having only two kids means I’m running through said park, barefooted, blindfolded, and with rabid pit bull dogs chasing me. This past weekend really tested my theory that four children in one house all under eight years old is a challenge past and present me just wasn’t built for. I had two of my nephews over Friday afternoon to spend the night. It was super fun and also an eye opener. Not only is third-row seating in a car uber important, but your pockets better run deep with that food money. Not only that, but come up off that TV you think you’re enjoying, because it’s there’s now. Even if they’re not actually watching anything, it just needs to be on Ryan’s World, Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, or CookieSwirlC. Be prepared for late nights and early mornings (not you entrepreneurs), because one kid will keep them all up and another kid will wake them up earlier than intended. Shout out to all you parents/guardians out there with four or more. I don’t know how y’all do it without catching any felonies or picking up unhealthy habits.
Moment of transparency incoming, I’ve been struggling to lose weight at the same clip I’ve done in the past. Something about that ole metabolism doesn’t seem to kick into high gear as fast as it used too now that I’m 36. Ten years ago, I could simply will myself to drop twenty pounds just by thinking about it. Oh, to have the luxury of youth again. I think another part of it is getting too comfortable with the extra weight for as long as I’ve had it. There’s a level of discipline with losing weight and keeping it off, that I’ve just discarded over the years. Comfort is the enemy of progression. Whether it’s your body, your relationship, or your career. The willingness to be uncomfortable for a short period of time eventually breeds satisfaction for a lifetime. I have to keep it in the forefront of my mind that it’s going to take me the equal amount of time to lose what I’ve packed on over the years. Back to grilled chicken, 90% fat-free ground turkey, and broccoli florets, because only serial killers eat broccoli stalks. What’s more important is not beat myself up over a bad day. One of those days that consisted of heavily fried foods, too many handfuls of Reese’s pieces, and looking at people run marathons on NBC Sports instead of actually hitting the pavement or treadmill. I was never one of those dude-bros during my peak physique, but I used to meticulously calculate calories, spend no less than an hour in the gym, and eat about six meals a day. During those days I challenged myself just to see if I can achieve it. Now, knowing that I can get there, it’s more about overall health. Will I be here for my family? Will I succumb to some preventable illness? None of those things aren’t particularly sexy, but should be more of a priority for me than mere vanity.
We did it y’all. We successfully binged all three seasons of Snowfall and have to wait until next year for season four. What is life? We thought our boy Franklin wasn’t going to make it, Reed/Teddy is still need deep in the game. I’m not sure if it’s blind patriotism at this point or he just loves wholesaling cocaine to minorities to help fund the U.S.’s fight against communism. Either way, he’s one of those characters that you root against, but often find glimpses of humanity to make you think differently about them. Watching Snowfall reminds me that the pursuit of money is the only thing that matters for most people. Even ravaging neighborhoods and creating generations of addicts is no match for the lure of the almighty dollar. Or the belief that the dollar is in fact almighty. Another post for another time. I enjoyed the first three seasons of Snowfall for portraying the complexity of drug trafficking through the ebbs and flows of the connects, the middle-men, corner boys, and everyone in-between. Every action has an equal or greater reaction and no one comes out of this unscathed.