16 Comments
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Lydia Larson's avatar

Love your essay!

By the way, I believe there’s a footnote feature that you can use to make numbered footnotes for readers to click, on instead of needing to scroll down to find the asterisks.

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Andrew Knott's avatar

Oh cool, thanks! I’ll look for that.

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Kristi Keller 🇨🇦's avatar

Loved this, Andrew! It took me right back to 16 Scenic Road, where I lived when son was growing up. Weirdly, EVERY house on our street was filled with boys. No girls. I loved having boys everywhere and knowing that if mine was missing, he was probably in someone else's kitchen earing cookies or playing Pokémon. Good memories. I wasn't lonely then but I sure am now.

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Andrew Knott's avatar

Thanks Kristi!

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Chris Stanton's avatar

Really enjoyed this, Andrew. And I’m so glad you explained “Moss.” I was like, “a rolling stone gathers no? That can’t be it.” And I was 60% sure it wasn’t a tribute to Elisabeth Moss. If your insurance company is reading this, I totally appreciated the trampoline metaphor. It’s giving me a lot to think about.

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Andrew Knott's avatar

Thanks Chris! Glad I could expand your horizons with some deep trampoline literary devices.

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

I SO resonated with this. Yes. The loneliness. We are empty nesters and our kids live across country. We will be moving closer to them because of the loneliness.

Wonderful tribute series, Shelly. 🥰

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Shelly Mazzanoble's avatar

Thank you for saying that, CK! So many great stories about parenting out there. I tried to find a nice variety that we can all relate to.

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Happy parenting week. (We only get a week?)

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Shelly Mazzanoble's avatar

😂😂😂😂😂😂

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Shelly Mazzanoble's avatar

My son said that's too much! I guess beggars can't be choosers!

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Good Humor by CK Steefel's avatar

Aww. What a mensch.

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Kylie-Ann's avatar

My mind races ahead to twenty and thirty years time often and I wonder what is there for me. What is my life without the kids? It’s weird to think that whilst simultaneously wishing they would leave me alone for five minutes but I guess that is exactly why the thought is so scary too!

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Shelly Mazzanoble's avatar

This parenting thing sure is a big old mindf*ck, no???

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Jen Zug's avatar

Gah, I love this so much. ❤️

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Beth Lisogorsky's avatar

Brothers be smart sometimes.

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