Interview With The Full-Time Dad: The Insomnia Chronicles

Sarah, from the blog Dreamdust, was interviewed by a person and decided to continue the trend by asking if anyone would like to be interviewed by her.  I accepted just out of curiosity of what in the world she would ask me.

From what I gather, here's a bit about Sarah. She lives somewhere in England, is quite a gardener, has a quick wit, and she is part of a gang of shutterbugs that use a lot of imagination in framing their shots and the outcome is always nice to see.  Her wonderful photos can be seen on her Flickr site.

Now here we go with her questions and my answers.

You recently enjoyed the delights of London - if I were to come to the USA, where should I visit in particular?

The first place I would tell you to visit would be New Orleans, Louisiana.  It truly is one of the greatest cultural cities in the world and now more than ever, it needs people.  It features some of the finest cuisine on the planet, an eclectic mixture of music that is a joy to be heard, wonderful art, history and culture, as well as some of the friendliest people in the country.  It also is the site of, in my opinion, one of the worst failures by American government in history.  The devastation left from the levee failures after Hurricane Katrina, approaching two years old, and the lack of compassion from federal and local governments to show any sense of urgency to put people's lives back together after that catastrophe is absurd.  It's something I think that people that do not live there are unaware of, and that needs to change.  Hopefully with people returning to New Orleans to witness not only the bad, but the oh so good, they can become aware of that so indeed things can change.

Other destinations, and don't forget your camera.

• New York City.  Sure see the city, but venture into the neighborhoods as well.
• Chattanooga, Tennessee.  See Rock City.
• Chicago, Illinois.  Same goes here as for New York City.
• Drive from Estes Park to Steamboat Springs in Colorado during spring.
• Vermont in autumn for peak color of foliage season.
• Las Vegas, Nevada...Viva!  See the excess, it's nuts and makes for good people watching.
• Our house.  I'll cook a meal, then we can venture out and you can teach us how to take photos.

Your Flickr username Hooray for Saturday is certainly a notion I support, but what's so special about Saturday from your point of view?

Saturday is the first day of the week I don't have to give 100% of my time to my children during the day.  I know that sounds horrible to your average person, but after all week, all day, of being the caregiver, entertainer, diaper changer, referee, short order cook, and conversationalist to a three year old daughter and an 19 month old son I'm in need of a little down time and get away.  Saturday my wife usually likes to take the children out and about and I get to spend some time doing nothing or hanging out with my buddies playing disc golf.  Saturday is daddy's day to relax a little bit.

What makes you feel content? That gentle happiness that washes over you and makes you smile a little secret smile.

Ha-ha!  Saturday.  See above answer.

Being able to watch our children grow up without sending them to full time daycare at this age is nice.  It's great for us to see our children do their first things, such as say a new word, walk, get every button on a sweater buttoned, or finally eat a vegetable.  It's very rewarding already and like I mentioned before our oldest is only three years old.  It's funny to go back and look at photo albums because one picture can spark memories of the entire day of what went on with us.  That is pretty neat.

If I gave you a time machine with which to visit your 18-year-old self, what piece of advice would you give that younger guy?

Wow.  I would tell him to make sure he stays in touch with his friends. Don't let time and distance get between them, allowing that to stop communications.  That, unfortunately, is something I have become horrible at, allowing time and distance to get between me and people I care about.  Because of that, I have lost contact with some real good friends from the past.

The kids are being looked after and you've got $1000 to spend on a date with your wife. How do you treat yourselves?

This will sound pretty lame, but it's been some time since we've been on a date.  I would enjoy going to have a good meal, then taking the wife shopping.  I'm a simple guy, but my wife loves to shop and she gets giddy when she buys herself stuff or anything for the kids and I enjoy seeing that joy.  We never get to do anything like that without the children in tow, so just the two of us shopping would be fun.  She can shop, I can people watch and point things out to her that she might like.  The only thing I would require?  On the way home we stop and get big hot fudge sundae, with two spoons.  Just the two of us, there's the romance!

So there you have it Sarah and the rest of you seven people that might read this.

Oh really!?  You want to be interviewed?  Leave a comment letting me know and I'll email you five questions of my choice.  You answer them on your blog and then you offer to ask someone five questions and so on.  This is what the kids are doing on the internet these days, sooner or later we'll all be acquainted. 

I may even find some of those old friends I lost contact with.

Comments

[Elisa]

You'll never get rid of me, mister.

[samantha jo campen]

Hit me, cousin.

Take off the gloves and ask ANYTHING :-)

[Sister in law]

I want to be interviewed by you...at least now maybe you will email me:)

[Greg Barbera]

no Outer Banks?
no Blue Ridge Mountains?

man, tsk tsk.

[HoorayForSaturday]

Greg,
So many places, so little time...Sarah could catch that on a second visit for sure.

kevin

[Rayne]

I think the day you described with your wife sounds so wonderful and fun.
May I play, too, please?

[Peter]

A great interview. I totally agree with a lot of your comments, particularly about Saturday. I've been a slacker on my blog lately because the little guy is at the I'm-scooting-on-my-rumpus-and-if-you-look-away-I-might-just-crawl phase. Even Saturdays are getting busier for it. :) Hope you are well.