Today is a good day. No, today is a great day!

UNC beat dook last night and today, I was accepted to grad school at UNC.

Today is a really, really good day!

As crazy as the next two years are going to be, I am beyond excited. I literally can not put into words how excited I am. I called my wife in tears.

I grew up near Chapel Hill and was on campus a lot. I mean, A LOT.

And today, one of my dreams came true!

Today is a good day.

I never thought that I was good enough to goto UNC. I never thought that I was smart enough. I never thought I could attend UNC. But today, I can say that I was wrong.

Today, I am a Tar Heel. And today, is a really good day.

January is over and time to focus on February and wanted to highlight a few things from the first month of the new year.

For starters, I survived, no I freaking owned Dry January! Myself and two of my buddies took on dry January and were all successful. I was able to lose 12.5 pounds and also slept better than I had in a long time.

So am I happy that January is over? Yes, because I can have a beer or glass of wine and not feel like I am cheating myself. No, because I really challenged myself to do something that was out of my norm and to learn something new about myself.

But that wasn’t the only reason that I’m glad that January is over, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of my Mother In Law’s death. This year, was a little tough. 10 Years. A full decade. Over 10,000 days. That is a long time, yet it feels like yesterday.

January is a hard month, if for no other reason than the loss of my wife’s mother, but it was compounded with trying to break and change bad habits too. In the end, I came out more aware and more focused on what I needed to do and I came out a better person.

21 days since my last drink. 21 days!

Seems like a small victory and it is. But there has been a mind shift for me as well. Now, when I go home, I workout or I grab another cup of water or brew a cup of coffee.

Gone are the days of walking in and grabbing a beer. Gone are the days of even thinking about having a glass of wine while cooking.

21 days!

The reality is this and I don’t want to minimize this at all and nor do I want to make too big of a deal of it either and here is why, this is my 21 days. This is my story. While at dinner a few weeks ago, I had a cup of decaf coffee while my wife had wine. And not once did I think, I’ll cheat or take the approach that no one would know if I had a beer. I would know.

21 DAYS!

My friends and I decided to do this Dry January and thus far, I’m down a little over 10 lbs and feeling a lot better. Sleeping better. Working out more. And in 21 days, my thinking has changed.

So 21 days down and a lifetime to go.

Last night was a first, Boy A went to his grandfather’s for a sleep over and Boy B, stayed at home! This was the first time that they had EVER been a part at night.

I still really don’t know how and why this ended up happening the way that it did, but honestly, even though I was anxious about it, the boys did great being apart last night. Though the funny thing, an hour after being a part, they started texting and FaceTiming each other to make sure the other was ok.

Last night was a good dry run, as the boys get older, there will be more nights apart. There will be sleep overs with friends, that the other will not be invited to. And that is ok. But at least night was in a controlled environment.

Celebrities are just like each and everyone of us, within reason. But over the past year, I have been able to introduce either one or both of my son’s to celebrities and it has been a blessing and a curse.

First, the blessing. With my job, I have been fortunate to be able to work closely with a former Major League Baseball player, who as a kid, I watched. And, I was also able to introduce one of my son’s to a 4 time Grammy Award winning musician this past year as well.

The cool part of this, is that these are both people that I have met throughout the years and worked with one, but also got to hang out with them and know them personally.

The bad part about this is that I have already been asked who the next celebrity that they get to meet? This is not the behavior that I am looking for when we create these opportunities for our kids.

I was not raised to expect things and I don’t want my kids to think that it is ok to expect certain things. My wife and I have been very fortunate, that we have good jobs and have been able to provide these opportunities to my kids. I just don’t want them to expect things.

It is really never a day off for a parent, but in theory it would be nice. As we sit around the house this morning, relaxing, I was thinking about all of those that serve in the armed forces and how they protect our freedoms to have a day off today.

Today, as we fire up the grill, relax and take the day off from work, let’s remember those that give us the ability to do just that.

We are now on day 4 post surgery of my son’s tonsil surgery and WOW what a difference!

The surgery was literally 15 minutes, trust me, I timed it. And even though we are only 4 days out of surgery, there are already positives. There is no more snoring!

He has complained a few times about having a sore throat, but in reality that is all that he has known for the last 2 months. The one funny thing though, is that his voice is much higher right now, which is rather funny!

Another interesting observation, is that thus far he seems calmer too. As noted numerous times, my son has ADHD and there are numerous articles and studies about the removal of tonsils and the benefits.  So it will be really interesting to see how he does with his behavioral and ADHD in the coming months.

Even though these first 4 days have gone smoothly, we’ve been advised that days 6 – 9 are the worst.

I’m often asked if the boys do everything together and I quickly remind them, there are two boys with two identities. People just assume that the boys have the same interests and the same friends, but in reality, they are completely different.

The boys have completely different interests, but they have some commonalities too. They both love cartoons and especially Pokemon. They are both really getting into drawing and stretching their creative mindset by drawing comic books and telling stories.

But at the same time, they are completely different as well. One loves sports, the other doesn’t. One likes quiet time, the other wants to run and be loud.

Having twins is a wonderful and sometimes frustrating thing at times. People ASSUME certain things because we have two kids that are the exact same age. But in reality, no two kids have the same personality. That is what makes them unique! Two kids = two identities.

I want my kids to be different. I want them to have different friends and different interests. How boring would it be if they did everything the same?