Yo Stoked Dad, 

May your Sunday be everything you need it to be.

The week was a good reminder that I have work do on my “inner citadel”, as Marcus Aurelius calls it. That inner solitude where I can retreat when things feel overwhelming. It’s felt a little cramped in our house of late. There are few places where I can be alone and have quiet. The point of the inner citadel is that no matter what swirls around us, we can retreat inward, find stillness, and face the chaos. 

I hope I always make a big deal of anything Hannah makes me: a card, painting, or even a fake sandwich. She gets so stoked when I excitedly receive whatever it is she’s handing me. It may be a fake sandwich but I hope the girls know it’s the best damn fake sandwich ever made. 

If you’ve been a pub or bar around closing or you remember the late 90’s - you’ve heard the song “Closing Time” by Semisonic. The song isn’t just about getting kicked out of a closing bar: it’s about life, birth, and the song writer’s premature daughter. Reading about that hit me a little, with our littlest spending time in the NICU as well. The lyric “I know who I want to take me home” was written from the POV of his daughter wanting to leave the hospital. Tear inducing. - shoutout to my friend Tregg for sending this story my way. 

“It is possible - no, entirely too common -for a person who has had a long life to have lived too little.” 

-Seneca

I’ve been on the hunt for a new dad backpack. One I can travel with, load all the kid stuff x2, and not look like a goober. This thread from Jeff Sheldon of Ugmonk (incidentally the greatest desk gear ever) is gold for that search. I ended up getting a Peak Design pack, and I'm stoked to test it out.

Be stoked my friend,

Kris

P.S. - I’m focused on getting better and growing a stoked dad community with each dispatch. If you liked these, it would mean a ton if you shared it with someone else. I’m also revamping my blogging site to archive each week of these - it’s coming soon.