Reflection and the Way Ahead

For long-time followers of this blog, it has been pretty apparent I have not been writing as of late. This is due to several factors, which I will touch on below, but it is possible it may have outlived its usefulness, as per its original purpose at least. The site has helped me better reflect upon my role as a father, as well as help other single parents along the way. It also made me a much better writer, which led to some other interesting endeavors. While I am not closing down the site anytime soon, I wanted to at least acknowledge to my faithful readers that situations arise, priorities are reevaluated, and goals change, which has caused me to spend far less time writing in the last year than I would have preferred. As the girls and I determine the next steps for Adventures in Single Dadding, let us take a look back at how far we have come since this site’s inception, why I am taking a step back, and what the future holds for us.

The last year has certainly been a busy one, for both me and the girls. Since I got back from my deployment to Romania in April of last year, and them coming back to me a month later, our family’s “operational tempo” (military term) has been going full steam, and it does not look like it is going to slow down any time in the near term. I have spent more than two months in the field since I returned and the girls are spending their breaks in Kenya with their mother. Although life has slowed down a lot for me since I received my Accredited Financial Counselor (AFC) certification in April and graduated from the Command and General Staff College’s (CGSC) Advanced Operations Course (AOC) in May, the girls have still been plowing ahead with their schoolwork, including increases in homework and reading assignments to align with their grade level; our hard work seems to paid off though, with Gabriella receiving her class’s first Eager Beaver Award and greatly improving her reading level, Elaina getting straight A’s during her final quarter, and myself being the Distinguished Honor Graduate in my course. Because of how active we have been over the past year, it has given me very little time to write, as any free moment has been dedicated to just spending time with my girls. Because of this, it has led to me to once again reflect on why I started this blog in the first place.

Directly from my opening post:

“I started this blog for two reasons.  The first is to be a productive outlet for my family and myself by highlighting how much fun you can have when you put family first, regardless of your family structure.  The second is to inspire and give hope to other single fathers out there, especially those that are the primary custodians of their children.  Getting through a divorce is extremely difficult and it is a full-time job being a single father, but hopefully this blog demonstrates that it not only gets better with time and experience, but can be truly rewarding.“

This blog served to reinforce I was doing the right thing with my parenting style, yet allowed me to constantly reevaluate what was working and what was not. Much to the detriment of my personal or social life (“me time”), I have always put my daughters first, and I would not have wanted it any other way. As for the second part, many current and future single fathers sought out my counsel on how I was able to handle the task of a one-parent household; I know this site had a positive impact on these individuals either as a starting point or as a reference, and I hope their journey with their children worked out just as well as it did for me. While not specifically noted, another goal of mine was to not use this platform as a means to discuss my divorce in detail or as an outlet to vent my frustrations with the girls’ mother. I am proud of myself for not resorting to using this relatively wholesome blog as a venue to express my opinions on the matter. At the end of the day and in the context of the goals I set forth, I think this endeavor was a success and hope you do as well.

So what’s next for Adventures in Single Dadding? Unfortunately, there are going to be less articles on this site. I still have only limited time available, and would prefer to spend it first and foremost with my daughters, but also towards some of my other publishing ventures. I am certainly going to continue to cover our big events, such as major holidays, graduations, moving to our next duty assignment, and vacations (planning to go back to Walt Disney World in January), but covering day-to-day events and local activities are going to be put on hold. Aside from the time commitment, part of it is because, as the girls grow up, the internet and social media are becoming a bigger part of their lives (for better or for worse). As Elaina and Gabriella begin to care more about friends, clothes, status symbols, and popularity, the last thing I want to be doing is to negatively contribute to their social lives. There is an Adventures in Single Dadding Instagram account, which is much easier and less time-consuming than writing whole articles, but I have been terrible in my posting frequency (I will try to do better). It has been an amazing ride, and although it is not coming to a close, it is certainly slowing down a little to better accommodate our current priorities and lifestyle. Thank you for being with us along our journey and hope we have been (and continue to be) a positive example of a single-parent family.

As always, thank you for checking in on us.

Cheers!