AB3A's Journal: Parenting 101

I'm writing this because I have a feeling that enough of you Nerds will find someone some day who you'll want to marry and raise children with.

It has changed my life more than I realized it ever would. I know there will be some even bigger changes coming.

I have three pre-school aged children. My oldest is about to start Kindergarden next year.

As you can see from my Info, I think I'm very nearly as Nerdly as one gets without flirting with insanity of one sort or another.

I love my kids. It's biology. Anything less is pathological insanity. But I'm often resentful that they take so much of my time away. The number of hours I fly every year has dropped to a point where I'm having difficulty staying current.

I have a radio station filled with tools and toys I'd have drooled over just a few years ago. I'm lucky if I can play with it for a few hours more than twice a month. And I haven't brewed any beer since last year.

Kids do that to you. Social demands do that too. I have delusions that some day they may take an interest in what I do enough to share some of the fun with them. These delusions even extend so far as to think that I'll see one of my kids building a regenerative receiver or operate the radios of the airplane (and surprise some controller with a really young voice from an aircraft on an IFR flight plan). And while it may happen some day, more likely than not, it won't.

Already my daughter has learned the eye-roll ("Daddeeeee..."). They're people. They have their own interests. I can guide them by example, but as any parent knows, you can't force an interest.

And thus it stands that so much of the coolness I used to pursue and still enjoy, is gathering rust and dust. It's an expensive trade.

They tell me that it's a worthwhile trade off. And generally, I can't imagine living without raising our children. But I'll warn you fellow nerds that there will be times when you'll think this is a pretty rotten gag that mother nature has done to you. And it is. But the alternatives are no better.

You have been warned.