I was fortunate to have a wonderful father. It wasn’t until it was almost too late that I realized and thanked him.

Be firm, but reasonable. Be kind and sensitive. Tease because it gently builds tolerances. Lift up and build up, don’t break down.

Encourage communication and support with understanding. Don’t punish honesty. Encourage it and meet it with respect. Even when honesty reveals a wrongdoing, communicate the next steps to right the wrong. Help them walk those steps. But sometimes, let them take some of the steps alone to build independence.

Be there to catch them when they fall. Be there.

I finally got back to my Taboo generator spreadsheet to quickly create a set of words with related banned words for my classes to use when we do vocabulary reviews. Not only did I get the related words scraping off a database and filtering correctly, I also have it so I can select vocabulary by week, up to that week, and also display it in a printable page with cards for physical play.

Up next, I’m hoping to also tag on a word search generator for vocabulary words.

Spreadsheeting is fun!

This is entirely dependent on where you’re living. If you live in a large city, slim isn’t the word I’d use.

Also, not weird or abnormal in a lot of the world. Lots of areas in Asia value education before relationships and encourage someone to be self-sufficient before marrying.

I have a distinct memory of walking out into the forest as a kid with my father, sibling, and dogs. I knew those woods like the back of my hand. I still know them well and could go back in and find distinct trees and paths.

But this memory had us crawl under a dense thicket of branches and we found ourselves face to face with a pack of wolves. Five of them. They all came out from over this mound ahead of us, one stood on top. The others moved around to the sides kind of or in-between us and the one on the mound.

I distinctly remember not being afraid. My dogs were calm. My family was calm. The wolves were at ease. I looked the one in front of us in the eyes and felt warmth. And then, one by one, they turned and left.

Ive tried to go back to the exact spot several times, but it’s not there. I’ve checked satellite imagery. I’ve gone through the other woods that my family frequented for hiking. Nothing.

So i dismissed it for many years (~20ish). It came back as a distant memory a few years ago and I asked my brother and sister if they’d remembered it. They didn’t. And I don’t remember which one was with me. So I went to ask my dad. As I started asking about it, he explained the rest of the memory. He, too, remembers it. But he also couldn’t find his way back there. It was my brother who was with us.

Neither of us can explain the situation.

There are several other things, but that’s one of my greatest life mysteries, for sure.