The Summer Was A Test — And It's Over

Before the summer started, the kids sat down with me and we made a promise: we'd come back at the end and talk about it. This is that conversation.For the first time, it was all of us, every day, the whole summer. No handoffs, no countdown. I said it out loud back in June — I'd love to have everybody live with me all the time — and this summer was the test of whether that was a wish or a plan.We talk about what stood out and what didn't (teenagers are not generous with details), what they'll actually miss, and the day I took them back to the apartment I grew up in — the alley, the corner store, the checks I was cashing at ten years old. Two generations standing in the same spot, and only one of them can imagine living there.And we talk about what I noticed: how much they value their independence now, and what it means to be a father to people who don't need you in the room to know you're there.Presence > Everything.