Our daughter, Claire, had her first slumber party a couple of weekends ago.

Her little friend Emma’s mommy and daddy wanted a night out and asked us to watch their 2-1/2 year old. We agreed since Emma’s mommy has taken Claire in a pinch before. They told us they’d be over after the 10:00 PM movie and we just started laughing. I wake Claire for daycare at 5:30 AM on work days and Donna and I are usually in bed before 9:00 PM. There was no way we’d stay up so Emma could be picked up at midnight. Seriously, the only people up at that hour are the teenage girl across the street and whatever boy was dropping her off so we suggested a slumber party.

Our house is “on the market” or otherwise known as “open for anyone to see that has a realtor license.”

It has been on the market for over 6 weeks. We really don’t have to move which means that we haven’t had a job change or anything like that. We just need more room. We now have two kids, three cats, and too much stuff for our condo. We want a backyard for the kids and a place for us to lay in the sun or play in the blow-up pool or just lounge around. A good-size kitchen would be nice as well as an extra room for an office or a playroom.

Being a parent offers many opportunities, not the least of which is the chance to relive parts of our own youth and run barefoot once again through the bliss of childhood.  The thing is that while we live for the run, we have our own race(s) that demand our time and attention, leaving us tired and wearing uncomfortable shoes.  How do we determine which moments we share with our children and which moments we sacrifice due to grown-up obligations.  Assuming a birthday is more important than a Tuesday night watching cartoons, what value can we place on various activities and times of interaction?

My wife, my son and I were comfortable being a family of three. As parents, we had the zone defense down to a point where one of us was usually relaxing and recovering – and at times, we both enjoyed kicking back rather than being in the throws of parenting. Then, just over 6 months ago all that changed. Alexander joined our family and while we had almost 9 months to plan, his arrival was a bit unexpected.

It’s not that we didn’t want another child. We just hadn’t talked about it and we were comfortable. Of course, we also didn’t know that a second child dramatically changes things.

Feminism ruined my life. I am all screwed up from it and issues from my childhood linger into my adult years. And so I have to face these issues in order to be a good father. Please humor me a little and let me explain. Maybe you’ll even relate to some of my experience, or at least understand 1/3 of the people who grew up in my generation a little better.

My Mom was never a consistent part of my life. There was no particular reason. She didn’t have another family or anything. She just didn’t like South Florida, by her own admission. So she chose to live 1500 miles away. She left my Father when I was an infant and the stories from both of them are inconsistent. But all I know is that my Father raised me and my Mother has been a militant feminist ever since I can remember.