Family Official

Inviting the kids into the conversation.

From our first attempt at “together” the board game nights and the daily routines with school drop off and pick up, martial arts classes, and snow days showed us the shape of our family dynamic together. The kids and John have a great relationship and are always ready to get into deep conversations with him. Their favorite part of the day is coming home from school and running into “Papang’s” office to tell him about their day.

When it came to the marriage talk, John really wanted to hear from the kids. We both felt it was important to bring them into the conversation before a proposal so they knew they were in the driver’s seat with us and not just along for the ride.

We had a snowboarding trip planned, so on one of the days when everyone was hanging out together, we brought up how great all this family time has been. After their affirming responses of agreement, we let them know that Papang and I wanted to make this family “official” and then asked them what they thought about it. It was such a sweet time because some were immediately enthusiastic, and others had some initial inquisitions before settling into perfect comfort. The family dynamic felt natural from the start making it effortless to move towards marriage. The kids are just as excited as we are about making more memories as a family.

I admire how John takes such careful consideration of the kids’ feelings and well-being at every step and cares for them like they are his own limbs. It is other-worldly to be his partner. The kids are forever lucky to have him as their father.