Part of me wonders if I write too many “Dad posts,” but mostly, I just write what I want. So here’s another one.

I have to say how lucky I feel to be a father. I got a bit of a late start (I’ll be 58 next year, and my youngest, Hope, will be a junior in high school).

I can’t imagine it any other way. The kinetic energy that fuels the chaos each corner of our house comes from the TV blaring, the dogs barking, my sons playing video games, my wife (the very reason I am a father) grading papers while doing 7 other things at once, and my daughter walking down for a snack, then retreating to her bedroom again, but never going back upstairs without a kiss and a soft, “I love you, Daddy.” That’s all it takes to make me happy.

My son Cole is at NYU Film School and loving it, which makes me anxious in all the right ways. He’s home for the summer, but I can tell he’s starting to figure out who he is in the world and what he wants to become.

My daughter Hope is a wonderful artist and will probably end up with the highest grades of them all. She’s becoming…and that, too, makes me a little anxious.

But this year has been all about my son Toby. He graduated from high school last week. His high school journey has been incredible: he played on the varsity tennis team, earned his Eagle Scout rank, and won more awards than I can list. He was named “Charger of the Year,” received the “Top Character” award from his teachers, and has been a student leader in ASB since his sophomore year. How does one top that?

At his high school, students can submit a written speech for a chance to speak at graduation. If selected, they get to sit on the main stage and deliver that speech to the entire class. Toby submitted his speech… and it was selected.

Stage right, about 9 rows up on the bleachers, right about at the twenty yard line, Jenn and I got to see how far our son had come. And I wanted to share it with you.

Happy Father’s Day. To the moon!

All of my kids have been—or are currently—part of CIBACS (Center for International Business and Communications Studies) at their local high school. It’s a bit like Junior Achievement, which I did after school when I was growing up, but in this case, it’s built right into their class curriculum.

As seniors, their final project is to launch a real business. Toby’s business is called Cycle Sentry Stickers.

I’m not sure how it is where you live, but here in Huntington Beach, there are tons of kids (and adults) riding e-bikes. Toby discovered that, according to several studies, most e-bike accidents happen during the daytime. He also found research showing that adding something like a third brake light—or even just a visual “disruption”—can help reduce accidents. His idea is simple: by adding a high-visibility yellow triangle sticker to an e-bike, it might make the difference between a driver noticing you or not.

Last night, Toby was out on the Huntington Beach Pier, doing booth duty—and I shot this quick video of him in action.

A pack of 3 stickers is only $10, and a portion of the proceeds will go toward organizations that support bicycle and e-bike safety.

You can order here 👉 CycleSentryStickers.com

No equal.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Minimum Levels of Stress

“In the absence of big problems, people shift their worries to smaller ones. In the absence of small problems, they focus on petty or even imaginary ones.”

No notes.

It’s official, Toby is an Eagle Scout! Many thanks to all of you who have supported him on his Scouting journey. So proud of my boy.

From Cole, Jenn, Greg, Hope and Toby