And, we're back

Wow!  What happened there?  I must have dozed off, and suddenly, it's seven months later.

I'll bring you all up to speed with some news that's a bit tough to deliver, and then I'll get on with the new purpose of the blog.  The sad news is this:  Stace and I are divorcing.  It was a good run for 23 years, but we had many challenges during those years, and we were too human to make it work in the end.  We'll have joint legal custody, meaning that we both have authority to make decisions for the kids, and I'll have sole physical custody.  Stace is in a small furnished studio apartment right now, and while she's there, she can visit the house whenever she wants.  We'll get her set up in something more permanent so that the kids can visit her on occasion.  We're both still going to be very much a part of the kids' lives.  Things are very amicable: there's no bitterness or arguing.  We're negotiating everything.  No one has to pick sides.  (But if you do want to pick sides, you can join my side by sending me a check for $100.)

Okay, with that out of the way, let's get on with the new purpose of the blog.  I was driving home thinking about all the new adventures I have ahead of me.  I was somewhat amused by the thought of all the mistakes I'm about to make as a single dad.  I thought to myself, "Well, if I think my mistakes will be amusing, maybe everyone else will think they're amusing, too."  So you can think of this blog now as "Adventures of a single dad," or maybe even "Misadventures of a single dad," although I'm going to stick with the original Woods in Switzerland name.  My purpose is to lay it all out there so that you can laugh at me as I mess up.  Now, I realize that I probably only have one reader left (hi, Mom!), but as always, the blog is more for me than for anybody else, so I don't care if anyone ever reads it.  It's a good outlet for me.  It's not going to be about divorce or any of that; it's going to be about my experiences as a clueless single father.

I haven't had the chance to make any huge mistakes yet, but I'm sure they're coming.  In fact, the first one may come tomorrow, because I've decided that dinner will be a collaborative venture between the kids and me.  I'm taking a couple of days off for spring break.  We're going to pick a recipe from somewhere, find or buy the ingredients we need to make it, and then make it together.  I have no doubt that disaster will ensue.  At least there's a McDonald's not too far away as a backup.

Other random observations:  I'm really scared of Lindsey's hair.  I never had a sister, and I know nothing about how to take care of a girl's hair.  Truly.  I hope she can somehow survive.  At least it's shorter than it used to be.  Maybe I'll just cut it really short and then never worry about it again.  Also, I have no idea how to dress her.  This is going to get ugly.

One of my favorite times with the kids is putting them to bed.  I'll share a little secret, but no one can ever tell Tanner or it will be ruined forever.  Even though Tanner is almost 15 years old and is threatening to reach or exceed my height before too long, I still put him to bed every night.  He crawls in bed and then waits for me to turn out his light, tell him good night, and close his door.  I didn't do that intentionally.  It's just that I started putting him down when he was a baby, and somewhere along the line, we both forgot to stop.  I hope it goes a while longer.  If anyone ever points out to him that this is unusual, I'm sure he'll put an end to it, so that must never happen.

That's probably enough for a first entry.  I'll report on dinner tomorrow night.  In the meantime, feel free to send any parenting tips my way.  I could use them.  Also, does anyone want any decorative pillows?