this might be a strange statement, but not only do i love my kids, but i like them. there’s a difference. and fortunately, i like them. they’re fun. they have a great sense of humor. they’re creative.

and apparently, they’re proud 99 percenters.

two years ago today, we welcomed to the byrd house our first little dude. max ryan byrd joined us on june 8, 2010 (the numerically nerdy 6/8/10) just after 1 p.m. at a whopping 9 lbs, 3 oz.

i’ve never had an addiction. well, at least the kind that necessitates an ‘anonymous’ group. you know, the kind where you get up and say, ‘hi, my name is ryan and i bite the heads off of my little ponies or i’m an alcoholic or i like to lick concrete.’ never been to one of those.

but it might be good to reveal, publicly, to readers of this blog one of my lifelong dark not-so-secrets.

i’m a crier.

just a couple weeks ago, i wrote a birthday note to lucy as she turned 4. no doubt, i laid on the sappy pretty thick. for max’s birthday, i wanted to take just a few minutes to tell him a couple things as he celebrates one year on planet earth. i can neither confirm nor deny the sappiness that may or may not flow forth in the remaining paragraphs.

it’s so hard to completely avoid cliché with these types of post. the reality is that many of the clichés are entirely accurate. yes, time has flown by. yes, it truly does feel like just yesterday you were born. and yes, it also feels like you’ve been with us forever. just a year later, it’s hard to imagine life without you, max.

i’m reminded regularly that blogging truly is a completely vulnerable, public diary. my thoughts—for better or for worse—flow forth in relatively unadulterated streams. sometimes it’s brilliant…and far more often, it’s pretty, well, not so brilliant.

recently i was thinking about the fact that whatever i write on the internet will be forever present. yes, forever. it will never. go. away.

my kids will read it.

and my grandkids will probably read it.

and, in the end, i’m ok with that. (i think?)

if you listened very closely a couple days ago, you could hear the collective gasp of the residents of little rock, the state of arkansas & the entire south. why?

because it snowed.