Nick and Catherine's Blog: 2017

I've hit a delay here for good reason this time and not solely because of work. I have started and stopped this entry several times because I don't like to be negative in this blog but Fall of 2016 is overwhelming. At the same time, I don't want the girls to think everything is perfect in life all of the time. This blog is for them after all and they are my audience when I write.

Last Fall felt horrible. We had a bit of a mantra of "**** 2016" (thanks John Oliver). It's true. The world seemed to turn upside down in many respects but we also know that everything can be put in perspective easily. At the end of the day, we are incredibly fortunate to live in this amazing country and have happy and healthy kids.

But there were a lot of changes in 2016 that were sad, terrifying, unfair and angering.

First and clearly the most difficult, Joe had a bad reaction to his back surgery in October that left us all reeling and changed the course of all of our lives. Hard times to say the least, but we all love him so much and miss him being able to see each moment the girls enjoy. Every single day one or both of the girls asks about when they can see Papa Joe and we are so grateful when they do. And Mimi is the strongest person we know. I could write for hours, but I know I don't need to elaborate because when Bryn and Claire read this, they will understand how hard it was. And it just is too hard to put in a blog.

Second, Hillary lost to Trump. Girls...our biggest fear right now is that when you read this, you will think "if only they knew what was about to come." But since we don't, I'll focus on the election.

I want this message to be about the first viable female Presidential candidate and not to take away from that, but unsurprisingly, I think history will focus on the guy in this story. But I can't stomach giving him a place in my blog, so what I will say is how very important it is to us that you respect the Presidency and the history and ideals of our country and that when you read this, those two things have not been tarnished by what can only be described as a joke of a person, let alone a President.

Some might think our biggest fear is that you will be conservative...it isn't at all...depending on what that means when you read this. But right now, our biggest fear is that you won't care. Or you won't participate. We are very privileged to live this life here, but democracy is not infallible. Care. That's all we ask in relation to politics.

But as to this election, we are devastated by the message that was sent by the electorate (as you know, not the general population though). Your dad and I were raised by four amazing people who created an environment where civics, ethics and western civilization ideals are part of our daily conversation, part of why we are together and how we met and connected, and part of who we want you to become. Yes, we are dorks and we are okay with being dorks.

What we view as the best attributes of our country and how we were raised seems was lost with this election. Your grandparents and great-grandparents taught us that caring about others over yourself is the most important and the most rewarding thing in life--your aunt Elizabeth has made a career of that. They taught us that mocking people, judging people for their sex, sexual orientation, race or class is unacceptable and immoral. They taught us the reward of listening to people's feelings and helping them with their problems (you might think that is about me, but your dad is exceptionally good..if not better than me at listening). They were right and we can only hope that we do the same for you.

At the end of the day, they taught us the very essence of goodness that the people of our country rejected in the 2016 election. Love trumps hate. If you only remember one thing about Hillary Clinton from history books, let it be that. Love trumps hate. Love is simple, but the most powerful force in the universe.

If the worst thing you do in life is swear, you are doing better than all of us. So my message is:

**** 2016.

I'm pretty sure Bryn just giggled and Claire said the word out loud.

Fortunately, the girls didn't seem phased by our troubles last Fall. That's the goal as a parent.

School Fun.