Apparently, I’m Mr. Rogers Now

​You go from watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and wondering why he changed his shoes and cardigan every day to suddenly thinking, “Wait… why do I have three pairs of glasses scattered around my house?”

I swear I’ve reached the age where I need driving glasses, computer glasses, and reading glasses. I sit down at the computer and have to swap glasses like Mr. Rogers swapped shoes. Then I pick up my phone and need another pair. Then I look up to watch TV and can’t see because I still have my reading glasses on.

Getting older is wild. One day you’re singing along with Mr. Rogers, and the next day… you are Mr. Rogers. 😆

Maybe We’re All Just Winging It

I recently learned there’s a name for something I’ve felt most of my life.

Imposter syndrome.

At first, I wasn’t sure it fit. I don’t walk around pretending to be a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist. I know what I know, and I know what I don’t. If I’m being honest, there are days when I feel like people give me way more credit than I deserve. They think I’m smart. They think I’m capable. They think I know what I’m doing. And somewhere in the back of my mind is this little voice that wonders what happens when they figure out I don’t know nearly as much as they think I do.

What if they realize I’ve been making it up as I go along? What if they realize I’m just figuring things out one day at a time like everyone else? What if they realize I don’t have all the answers? The funny thing is, I’ve spent my entire life expecting someone to discover that. And nobody ever has.

I’ve raised kids, built a business, managed employees, solved problems, handled crises, and survived things I never thought I’d survive. Yet somehow my brain still likes to say, “Yeah, but anyone could have done that.”

Could they? Because when I really stop and think about it, not everyone did. Not everyone stayed when things got hard. Not everyone figured it out. Not everyone kept going when they were scared, overwhelmed, tired, or completely unsure of what to do next.

Maybe what I’ve always mistaken for not being enough is simply being human. Maybe nobody knows everything. Maybe most of us are just learning as we go. Maybe the people we admire aren’t confident because they have all the answers. Maybe they’re confident because they’ve learned they don’t need all the answers to keep moving forward. I’m still working on that lesson.

But at this age, I’m starting to suspect that nobody really has life completely figured out. Some people are just better at hiding it. The rest of us are winging it, making the best decisions we can with what we know at the time, and hoping it works out. And maybe that’s not failure. Maybe that’s life.

So if someday everyone discovers I don’t know everything, I guess they’ll be disappointed. Right after they discover nobody else does either.

Whatever Happened To Bikes?

Lately I’ve found myself asking a question I never thought I’d need to ask: When did kids stop riding bikes and start driving golf carts?

Seriously. I remember neighborhoods full of kids. They were walking to their friends’ houses, riding bicycles, playing ball in the street, building questionable forts out of scrap lumber, and generally staying outside until somebody’s mom started yelling their name from a front porch. Now I leave to run errands and find myself following a twelve-year-old driving a golf cart decorated like a Fourth of July parade float. Apparently that’s normal now.

Maybe I’m showing my age, but it seems odd that kids who aren’t old enough to have a driver’s license somehow have access to vehicle keys. They’re driving around the same streets where the rest of us are headed to work, the grocery store, doctor’s appointments, and everywhere else... and before anyone says, “Well, if you had a golf cart when your kids were young, they’d have driven it too,” you’re probably right. They absolutely would have.

That’s because kids will drive anything with wheels if you let them. But should we let them? Part of being a kid was getting places under your own power. You walked. You rode your bike. You burned off enough energy that your parents didn’t have to wonder why you were bouncing off the walls at bedtime.

The other thing that worries me is that driving a golf cart around a neighborhood can create a false sense of confidence. When you’ve spent years cruising around at fifteen miles an hour while everybody watches out for you, it’s easy to think you’ve mastered driving.

Then one day you’re handed the keys to an actual car and discover traffic has considerably less patience than Mrs. Johnson and her poodle. Maybe I’m overthinking it. Maybe this is just another one of those moments where I realize the world changed while I wasn’t paying attention. But I still think it’s strange that the kids have vehicles. The golf carts have cup holders. And the bicycles are sitting in the garage wondering what happened.

The Next Super Hero Could Be A Kid With Star Power

Look, the odds are pretty slim that any of us are raising the next President or a movie star with a ten-bedroom mansion in Beverly Hills. (Honestly, I consider it a massive win if my kid just manages to put their shoes on the correct feet before noon). But while we might not be raising Hollywood royalty, we can absolutely raise good humans.

We can teach our kids that making a big impact usually comes down to doing the little things right. It’s about teaching them to be genuinely kind to others, to volunteer their time, and to be deeply thoughtful. The whole "it's all about me" attitude is exhausting—trust me, I have lived with a tiny dictator who thought the sun raised and sat on their snack schedule. We have to gently remind them that the world doesn't actually revolve around them, and that worrying about someone other than ourselves is a beautiful thing.

Whether it's helping a neighbor carry groceries, volunteering a few hours, or just being there for a friend in need, those small acts of thoughtfulness often leave the biggest mark. Deciding to make a difference in someone else's life just because you can? Now that is true star power.

Trying Something New

I'm attempting to learn Haiku poetry—and it's not going well. As someone who loves long, flowery, free-flowing verse, Haiku feels rigid and unnatural to me. Five syllables, then seven, then five again? It feels like poetry with a straitjacket on. But I'm determined to give it a shot, so you'll find the occasional Haiku sprinkled throughout this blog. Fair warning: they'll probably be terrible.

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Flowery Verses

Mine arrive with muddy boots

Tracking through the pages

*Gag*