Nearly three weeks ago, I started to write a piece that began, “Today is my fortieth Father’s Day, but my first one as a father.” My plan was to combine some sweet reflections about my own fatherhood with some acknowledgements and thanks to my dad for the kind of father he has been and inspired me to be. Those thoughts and feelings are still going strong, but actual fathering has made it difficult to move them from my head to the written page.

I find it extremely difficult to write anything that feels worthwhile if I can’t focus my attention on it. I could throw some unorganized, rushed words together to convey basic info in an uninteresting manner, but I don’t consider that writing. That’s writing like whacking some random keys on the piano is “playing music”. (Ever notice that “compose” and “composition” are synonyms for “write” and “writing”, respectively?)

I don’t want to come off as complaining, because I wouldn’t trade being a daddy to my twin daughters for anything in the world, but that priority doesn’t leave much time or mental energy for non-daddy stuff like writing. When time is available, it tends to be in small chunks, but having 10-minute windows of opportunity a dozen times a day is not the same as having one 2-hr. chunk to focus. Writing isn’t the only thing that’s true for, but it’s the one that explains this latest lapse in blogging.