Brag: My daughter

[SuitedSixes]

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be ready for the [censored] storm of variance that is the teenage years. congrats so far though.

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Im about to add a step-daughter. I am screwed.

[NT!]

cute kid dude. gl with the whole menstruation thing when it comes.

[Blarg]

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Awesome! Grats on, er...loving your own daughter. Well, you know what I mean, I hope.

I think that there's a very good chance most people don't reach their potential until they have kids. Which doesn't mean you must have kids to get real and be a human being, but ... having kids is the shortcut to being a mensch that everyone who is not one should probably grab at, if they can make the kid a good life. Otherwise, you have to invent being a human being for yourself instead of letting someone else invent it for you, which is just too far out of the range of, well, I don't know, maybe most of us.

Hi, Ki, I love you too and wish you the best.

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My apologies for not getting this right, but a couple of years ago there was a poster on 2p2 whose son died very young and very tragically, in posting about this he said the most true thing that has ever been posted here:

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"It is an odd phenomenon that men start life so selfish and end it so humbled by their devotion to others. My children transformed me into a better person than I could have ever reached on my own."

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I'd read the link if you have it.

I think the next big struggle is to take this outside yourself, which basically entails your family -- though it might seem like your family is enough -- and see if you are strong enough to think and care about others, too.

It's extremely easy to get satisfied in our own personal accomplishments and in merely doting on what is ours as if it set us apart rather than merely confirming that we are only what we are, and what everyone else is too. Having a child can be a glory road to self-infatuation and a willful withdrawal from the world and its moral and spiritual claims as much as it can more humbly be an anchor to the real world and what really matters in it.

It would be a terrible waste of potential if you squandered your own realizations about your place in the world by confining it to your family.

[SuitedSixes]

The quote was by "slavic" it really was the saddest thing I have ever read on 2p2.

[SuitedSixes]

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cute kid dude. gl with the whole menstruation thing when it comes.

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I'm not taking very good care of myself. It probably won't be an issue.

[tisthefire]

that's a really awsome quote ss, thanks

[Blarg]

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that's a really awsome quote ss, thanks

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Agreed. This is a core truth of human existence that may not seem so until you get there. You could hit the lottery and realize this kind of stuff on your own, but good luck. It's probably not gonna happen.

And of course, what I was getting at too -- it's still possible to totally squander it.

Life is teh hard.

[SuitedSixes]

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that's a really awsome quote ss, thanks

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Agreed. This is a core truth of human existence that may not seem so until you get there. You could hit the lottery and realize this kind of stuff on your own, but good luck. It's probably not gonna happen.

And of course, what I was getting at too -- it's still possible to totally squander it.

Life is teh hard.

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I used to have this whole thing typed out that I gave to new fathers, but the best thing about being a dad is that the decision making process is so easy. You just throw out what you want to do and always do what's best for your kid. It is really as simple as that.

[tisthefire]

you're a very likeable guy

[SuitedSixes]

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you're a very likeable guy

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Thanks, that's a nice thing for you to say . . . and kinda needed right now.