My wife has stopped calling me a good dad. That was the deal we made. She agreed to it back in 2009. "Quit your blog," she said over the sound of the laundry she was washing a second time because I had left it in the washer for three days. "Quit your blog and I'll make it up to you."
"Will you call me funny?" I had asked.
"Yes," she said.
"Will you say my words touched you?"
"Yes," she said again.
"Will you call me a good dad?"
She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I will call you a good dad, just like the people who read your blog and have never met you or seen you do a lick of parenting. You bet, Good Dad."
To be fair, she stuck with it a long time. To ease my transition away from blogging, I put little blank cards all over the house for her comments. On the dining room table: "That was such a great pot roast! Thanks for sharing!" In a basket of clean laundry: "Amazing! You must really love your family!" Next to the bed: "LOL." But it didn't last. And now it's like a taunt.
"You said you'd call me a good dad!" I wail constantly.
"Go start another blog," she yells back over the sound of the laundry she's washing a second time because I left it in the washer for three days.
So I am. You can find my new blog at brian-sargent.com. I'm not sure what it'll be, exactly, but I know one thing: It's going to make me look awesome.