And You May Ask Yourself…

Rich Wilhelm
October 14, 2012

Rich Wilhelm

Lives in: Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
From: Boothwyn, Pennsylvania
Occupation: Writer
Web: http://jncsdad217.wordpress.com
Twitter: @RichW217
YouTube: jncsdad217

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Hi, my name is Rich and this is my first blog post for the Life of Dad website. I’d like to thank Tom Riles for welcoming me aboard.

First, let me establish my central qualification for this blog: I am a dad, to Jimmy and Chris. My wife, Donna, the boys, our dog Jolie and I live in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. Phoenixville is the home of the Colonial Theater, where the iconic “running out of the theater screaming” scene of the 1950’s b-movie classic, The Blob, was filmed. As claims to fame go, I think that Blob-related notoriety is fun.

To be honest, I did not initially think I had much to say as a Dad-blogger. Here’s the thing: I’m not exactly new at being a father. Donna and I are days away from our 20^th anniversary as I type this. Jimmy will be 15 years old (gulp) in November and Chris turned 10 in June.

Way back in Jimmy’s toddler days, I started a blog and wrote a bit about being a new dad. As time has moved along, my Dad-related writing (I’ve been a writer even longer than I’ve been a husband and father) began to recede a bit. I felt like I had said everything I needed to say on the subject.

These days, I’m not so sure about that, mostly because life is substantially different for me, and for all of us in our family, than it was back when everyone was still worried about something called “Y2K.”

Sometimes I have “celebrity moments” but these moments never have anything to do with Kardashians or Honey Boo Boo. As a 47-year-od suburban husband and father of two, it seems quite natural that the words of a long-time musical hero of mine, David Byrne—“you may ask yourself, ‘how did I get here?’”—will often appear unbidden in my mind, and just hang there, waiting for me to come up with some kind of answer.

I’m finding now that, in addition to Mr. Byrne, I’ve got Bill Murray, specifically the Bill Murray of Groundhog Day, showing up in my brain as well. I have certainly had stretches of time during the last several years in which it seems like every day is a repeat of the previous one. I think this happens to everyone, but if you don’t recognize it, and if you don’t look for at least one thing every day that makes it different from the one before, you’re not going to grow: not as an individual, not as a partner, and certainly not as a dad. And not growing is not a good thing.

So, Talking Heads and Groundhog Day are providing my cautionary tales, gently (and sometimes, not so gently) reminding me to maybe do a little less pondering how I got here and a little more finding those little daily transcending moments that focus my thoughts on just how cool it is to be Jimmy and Chris’ dad.  This blog is where I plan to record some of those moments.

I’ll check in again soon.

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