Tag Archives: family history

Rocket Girl

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Earlier this year I was working in the kitchen and my toddler daughter, Aria, was sitting on the living room couch when suddenly this conversation broke out:

Her: Daddy, I want to go to space.
Me: Umm. Okay. You might be able to someday.
Her: I want to go now.
Me: Mmm. That’s not really possible tonight.
Her: Why?
Me: Well, we don’t have the right equipment.
Her: Why?
Me: We need spacesuits and rockets, and we don’t really live in a place where launching rockets happens. It’s kind of dangerous.
Her: Why?
Me: Because the rockets have lots of fuel in them that can explode. But, someday, you can go into space if it’s something you really want to do. I’ll come watch.
Her: But, I want you to come with me.
Me: Well, honey, that’s probably not going to work.
Her: Why?
Me: Because by the time you’re old enough to go into space I’ll be a little too old for the trip. But I know you can go someday, and I will come watch you.
(pause)
Her: Can I watch Doc (McStuffins)?

I shared this conversation with my sister, Heather, and while we had a good laugh, she ran with it as a birthday gift theme. This actually happened a few days ago on Aria’s fourth birthday:

I was a bit envious. Aria said that maybe Auntie Heather could get me a suit. I told her that I would need to be a real astronaut to get a grown-up version. (For the record Auntie Heather said, nope, I don’t!)

I have no idea where this thought of going into space came from. Maybe she saw something on a Daniel Tiger or Doc McStuffins episode. Maybe she talked about it in preschool. Perhaps she gave thought to those glowing stars stuck on her bedroom ceiling. Regardless the reason, as her father, I want her to know that she can do anything she puts her mind to. If the day comes that she heads to Mars, the moon or a space station, I will be there to watch her liftoff. I’ll wish I could be on the ship with her, but maybe she will give me a mission patch when she returns. You go, Rocket Girl. Dream big.

The Joy Jar 2017

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Lisa and I started the Joy Jar tradition last year. We have a Mason jar in the kitchen next to a large notepad. The jar is filled throughout the year with slips of paper, and on each slip is written something that gives the writer joy on a particular day. On New Year’s Eve we get together to read each of the notes out loud.

This was not an easy year, but a lot of great things happened for which we’re grateful. Here are just a few of our highlights:

  • Better hours. Home every night for dinner!
  • Watching Aria in her first dance class.
  • Our weekend getaway to Pana-Sea-Ah on the coast.
  • Taking Aria to first day of preschool. So proud, but wouldn’t let Mommy go.
  • Walking through World War II bombers over Father’s Day weekend.
  • Our trip to Mount Hood. Fun at 7,000 feet!
  • Watching Aria and her cousin, Thad, sit together at Disney on Ice.
  • Aria climbing up into her big kid bed for the first time and saying, “Wow!”
  • Daddy-daughter living room dances in the summer.
  • Aria thinks “Roll out of bed in your jammies” is the funniest thing ever said.
  • Watching Clarke discover his talent making applesauce and apple pie.
  • Aria opening her Bitty Baby from Grammy and Grandpa at Christmas. Sheer joy.

The main theme was once again family. We saved our favorite notes and put them in a time capsule with the others from 2016 for reading again someday. The new year will have its own set of challenges and uncertainties, so a new joy jar is ready to go for 2018 as a reminder of all that’s good during the next 365 days. Happy New Year!

Before looking ahead, here’s one more glance at 2017 with a few joyful pictures:

On Oregon’s Central Coast

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We recently took a trip to Lincoln City to spend time with my parents. They rented a house in the Olivia Beach development and invited us to join them for an extended weekend.

I always feel a kinship with the Central Oregon Coast as I worked there for six years in the early part of my career. I’m happier to just visit now as the climate can be wearying while living there year-round. Oregonians think they know rain, but it’s something entirely different in a coastal climate. Damp. Everything is damp. Always. I’ve written extensively about my time there in the Newport Tales, and at some point I need to continue that series. There are quite a few more tales, some outlandish, to be shared!

While visiting, I also met up with my good friend, Ron Eggert. He was the sales manager at KSND during most of my tenure. A lot of craziness happened at that place. The things he talked me into! He could sell, that’s for sure.

Ron would come in early while I was doing the morning show, and we’d chat about life and myriad other topics. He had some gems: “No bad days” and “Quit wishing and go fishing” were a couple of my favorites. One thing he said to me many times was that he hoped when we had long gone our own ways that we’d always remember the fun we had together. Consider that mission accomplished, buddy.

Though I was a resident at one time and have countless pictures of ocean, sand and bridges, I never tire of photographing the landscape — even now. I’m sharing the best photos from the weekend here including a great picture of Ron and me taken by his wife, Nancy:

September into early October has some of the best weather on the coast, and it’s usually better than the summer. For the most part, that was the case for us. It was a great trip, and we look forward to visiting the ocean again soon.