DadJack.com Blog

I had my first day on the new job a couple weeks ago, I wasn’t nervous or tense, I was excited, but not in the way I was on so many of my other firsts.  This time I am older, more confident, I know I can do this job, I know I can handle what ever comes at me.

Firsts and lasts are usually very memorable.  I vividly remember my first kiss, my first time on stage as a “talent”, the first time I held my kids.  Stuck in my mind is my last day at Star, the last day I was legally married, the last time I felt my wife loved me.  These events drilled into my head, to many to mention, good and bad… But then it hit me, there are so many I can’t remember.

Lost is the last day I was truly married to my wife, our marriage crumbled over time, I remember key events that lead to it’s demise… But I can’t for the life of me remember the last day it truly felt like we were husband and wife.  The last time we were a real family, I remember us all living together, my kids and I under one roof, it now feels like that was never even real… Real is the fragmented life we lead now.

My life destroyed, and I remember it as a two year trial of pain, an avalanche of lasts.

The strangest part is my life has returned to a collection of firsts.  And like before they have been both good and bad… Although, lately the good have far out numbered the bad.  And now I note moments better, marking them important in my mind, so that no matter what happens from this point on, I will remember first, last and always.

This one requires a little solo Dad work, but the results are great!  Taking photos is a must if you have kids ( I may go a little overboard, but digital photography has made it cheap and easy to capture almost every moment!)  The downside to this digital photo revolution is that many of us don’t print the pictures, they sit on a card or hard drive, un-viewed and unappreciated, or on your Facebook page, where friends can see them, but the kids don’t really have access.

So What I do, is every 4 to 6 months, I make a photo book of our “Adventures” (We’re on volume 4 right now.)  You may be asking yourself, what the heck is a photo book?  Think old school, yellowing pages, plastic sheet pulled over your pics, photo album… Only way, way cooler.  You get to place the photos, design the pages and the best part, write the captions. (I’ll explain why this is the best part soon).  Sites like Shutterfly, Snapfish and Photoworks are great places to start… And if you get on their mailing list they’ll sent you promotions (which often include huge discounts on photo books.)   A side benefit is that when you upload your photos to these sites they store them for you… Just another way to back-up your precious memories.

If your kids are older you can have them help with the whole creation process… But if they’re small like mine, it’s more fun to surprise them!  The end result looks just like a real book you would buy at the book store, so the kids are amazed their pictures are in there.  This is where the captioning comes in, I try to write the captions at the reading level of the kids, it’s a great way to promote reading, nothing is more fun than reading about themselves and the places they have been… And I throw in a wacky few that Bing will latch onto.  When we go through the books, Bing will remember certain captions and yell them out.  We read ours as a bedtime story or when we’re sitting on the couch in the evening.

And knowing that you are not all single losers like me… They make a great gift for the spouse too!  I had a dear friend surprise me with one filled with photos that they had taken while our kids were hanging together and I love it.

So get that camera out and start shooting!