It’s time to kick the dust, shake the cobwebs off this thing, and get it back going. I’m not sure I’ll ever get back to my glory days of blogging one post a day, but I miss the process of writing and have decided to get back in the game.

In many ways, I started this blog as a way of getting to know myself better – of recording my thoughts and experiences during a time of major transition in my life. My grandfather’s health was slowly slipping away. My lovely and talented wife was pregnant with our first child. I was a landlord in more ways than one. I was growing up, asking a lot of questions, and trying to figure out if I actually had the intestinal fortitude necessary to man up and be the man I knew I needed to become.

Sure, biologically, I’d been a man for several years. But for the first time in my life, I was actually starting to feel like an adult. Writing this blog helped me crystallize so many of my thoughts and feelings about the kind of man — and father — I wanted to be.

When I first started writing Finding Manhood, the title fit really well with my current stage of life. In many ways, I really was trying to find manhood. Not that it was ever lost; I’d just never taken the time to seriously consider what it truly meant for me to be a man.

And so I wrote.

I wrote about serious things. I wrote about stupid things. I wrote about things that were intensely personal. I shared my failures and my victories. I wrote about life. I wrote about love. I wrote about manhood. And in the process, I began to “find myself” as a man.

Was it writing this blog that lead me to that new place in my life? Was it becoming a father? Was it making the difficult decision to quit pursuing something I thought I “should” be pursuing for something I valued more? Who knows?

What I do know is that I now have answers for many of the questions I was asking myself and exploring right here in this space this same time last year.

And so here I am… a little over a year later and, if I wanted the title of the blog to match my current life stage, I could rename it, “Manhood Found” or “Finding Fatherhood” or “Raising a Lioness” or something similar.

But I’m leaving it as it is… for now. Although I don’t plan on changing the title any time soon, there’s a fairly good chance I will begin to take Finding Manhood in a new direction — one that is more in-line with the stage of life I’m currently living as a man who’s trying to serve God, romance his wife, be there for his little girl, and provide for his family — all the while trying to find a moment here and there to mow the lawn, be a mentor, and catch an occasional rainbow trout or OU football game.

That’s my life and this blog is my story.

I’m back.