Tracie P, my goodness, we’ve been married for 6 years!

Today, January 31, marks the day that we were wed in La Jolla. Happy anniversary, my love, and thank you for what have been — by far and beyond — the best six years of my life.

As I was mulling over what I wanted to write in my happy anniversary blogication to you, I started to think about the word best, the superlative adjective, an absolute used to describe something that surpasses all others like it.

These years have been the best: our coming together, our engagement, marriage, and first home; our children and the business that we have built together.

Now that Georgia P is 4 and Lila Jane is 2 and a half (and no longer a toddler), a new chapter of our lives is beginning to unfold.

In the wake the frenetic, hectic, and often exhausting but always exhilarating early years of child rearing, you and I are beginning to take evenings out again. We’ve begun to travel a bit — two days here, three days here. And we’ve begun to have a little more time to ourselves at home.

These years certainly have been the best of my life — until now.

“Until now” because I know that we have many “best” years ahead of us, too. They won’t surpass those that came before them, no. They will be remembered, I am sure, side-by-side with years past, like time in a bottle, as rich and as rewarding and as fulfilling as the first chapters in our book of life.

As I look back today on the last year of our life in marriage, I remember that even the toughest moments of the last 12 months have been eclipsed by the joy that you bring into all our lives. And I know that I can face any challenge or adversity that may lay ahead because I have you by my side, the best partner I could have ever hoped for and the most beautiful woman I could have ever dreamed of.

I love you Tracie P — mother, wife, lover, and partner. Happy anniversary!

Between travel, Tracie P’s birthday, and the myriad wines we’ve tasted this month, I realized that I haven’t posted about our girls in a while. So I wanted to share these photos here.

They see their mommy and daddy suit up (whenever we can) to go running and Georgia P expressed an interest in “exercise.” So a few weekends ago we went and got them their now beloved soccer balls.

We’ve started kicking them around when we go out for walks and in our front yard. Although Georgia P (above, left) sometimes seems more interested in her referee’s whistle and Lila Jane (right) in her accessories.

Aside from the storms last weekend, the weather has been really nice in Houston. That’s Georgia P (above) in the backyard of the house we rent here in Westbury in the southwest corner of the city.

She’s been enjoying her pre-school where she attends three days a week.

Next week she’ll be getting her new ballet shoes and starting her first ballet class (and she doesn’t know this yet but we’re taking them to see their first Nutcracker in December; Houston has an awesome ballet, btw).

Just look at those long dancer’s legs! She’ll be four in December.

Lila Jane started her first year of pre-school this fall. She goes two days a week.

It seems that she has a language explosion nearly every single day and her vocabulary and the clarity of her enunciation have been really impressive (at least from the perspective of her adoring parents!).

She turned two in July. That’s her outside our early polling station (where her mommy and daddy voted). She just loves that soccer ball.

One of our favorite things to do on weekends is to visit the Cockerell Butterfly Center at Houston’s Natural Science Museum.

Walking through the “tropical rain forest” atrium with them is a truly magical experience and they love to pretend to be butterflies and bees when we reach the honeycomb landscape at the end of the exhibit.

They’re both going to be butterflies for Halloween tomorrow (unless they change their minds and decide to be Elsa and Anna, although Lila Jane has toyed with the idea of being Wonder Woman).

Both girls are so sweet and they bring so much joy into our lives.

Thanks for letting me share them with you here. Have a great (and safe) Halloween weekend!

L’shanah tovah, everyone… Happy new year…

May the year ahead be filled with good health, serenity, and the sweetness of apples and honey.

And may your names be inscribed in the Book of Life…

It seems like it was just yesterday that I walked through this terminal with you on my shoulders.

“Look at all the people, daddy! Look at the airplane, daddy! Daddy, daddy, daddy, we’re going to blast off!”

In fact, it was earlier this week that your sister, mother, you, and I returned from our unforgettable trip to California together.

From the “school bus” that I rode from the parking lot to the pizza concession where we shared a slice (you cheese, me pepperoni), every footstep and every terminal announcement remind me that I won’t be seeing you for another fourteen days.

All the old folks tell me, “cherish these precious days with your little ones; they’ll be grown before you know it.”

I’ll be counting the days, the hours, and the minutes until I’m reunited with you, sweet girl.

Wish me luck, wish me speed. And keep my heart safe for me here in Houston because I simply can’t take it with me…

Georgia P and Lila Jane, my sweet girls.

Today is my forty-eighth birthday.

I wish I were at home with you today to celebrate. But I’m traveling for work this week in California, where I grew up and went to school. We’ll celebrate together when I get back.

It’s so incredible to think about how much the world has changed from the time I was your age until now.

When I was your ages, we had rotary-dial telephones, vinyl record players, and televisions.

Today, we watch music videos of astronauts on the International Space Station and listen to our favorite songs on high-resolution smart phones that are thinner than a chocolate bar.

The first astronauts to reach the moon landed there when I was about Lila Jane’s age and 8-track tapes hadn’t even been invented yet!

The world has changed a lot in the nearly half a century since I was born.

And today, even in the short time since mommy gave birth to you, the world continues to change at breakneck speed.

Over the last few weeks alone, our family has witnessed some remarkable cultural and social milestones in our country that neither mommy nor I could have even imagined when we first met each other in 2008.

Affordable health care for the less fortunate among us; marriage equality that will help bolster family life and remove a stigma from many of our sisters and brothers; and a new dialogue on racism in our country that — mommy and I hope — will make our country a much better place to live for all people.

I’m more proud of being an American than I ever have been. You are Americans, too. And I’m glad that you two are growing up in a world more tolerant than the one that mommy and I grew up in.

Our family and our life together make me think a lot about how the world has changed and how it is changing every day.

You are changing and growing, too: every day you surprise mommy and me with new vocabulary, new games you like to play, and puzzles you solve. And every weekend, when we play music and sing in my office, you amaze me with how quickly you learn new melodies.

But more than anything else, you both amaze mommy and me with your sweetness and your empathy. We’ve seen both of you take care of one another when you’re hurt or sad. And we love the sweet kisses, caresses, and pats on the back that you give us to show us that you love us.

Today, I’m forty-eight years old and I couldn’t be more proud to be your father. You fill our lives with light and joy and I can truly say that these years, since you were born, have been the very best of my life. I never could have imagined the change that you would have brought into our lives. And every day, I know I am blessed to be here with you and mommy.

Thank you for the best birthday I’ve ever had, sweet girls. Thank you. I love you.

Daddy