So your candidate lost?

I’d like to say I’m sorry about that, but that would be lying. I know lying is big for your candidate, but it’s wrong. I am not sorry he lost. In fact, I’m relieved he lost. Even more, I’m excited he lost!

I’m excited to see a new Secretary of Education who is not a corrupt, anti-public education hack and who won’t try to cut funding to Special Olympics.

I’m excited to see a new Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, who is not hell bent on destroying the environment.

I’m excited to see a new Secretary of State, who is not corrupt, takes diplomacy and allies seriously and is not “otherwise known as the international man of catastrophe”. …

I always enjoy my birthday in September. It’s usually still warm, and I get a few days of celebration out of it. Last year I decided to go a bit low key (for me) so I texted my sister, my brother, and my 2 cousins to join me for family dinner and drinks at my favorite sushi place. They came, we had a blast, eating, having drinks and laughing. Exactly five months and one day after that, sometime during the night on February 13, 2020, my youngest cousin Stas took his own life.

I was born in 1978 in Baku, Azerbaijan, back then part of the former USSR. Our family is of Armenian descent, with a little Russian mixed into it. My sister, brother, and cousins were all born over the course of the next 10 years, with Stas being born the last in 1988. We were raised in a warm and tight-knit family, a family that never talked about their problems, feelings or emotions. That wasn’t unique to our family. The Russian Association of Psychiatrists supported the view that mental illness was characteristic of capitalist societies. The general attitude towards mental health or depression in USSR was something to be ashamed of, and if comes to it, treated purely with medication. …

I’ll be honest, I got the idea for this article after reading “What to Eat in Mystic, Connecticut”. It’s not that I was looking to copy the idea, it’s just it hasn’t occurred to me before to write about where I live because I think at times I’ve come to take it for granted. But for an outsider, Fairfield is a foodie paradise. So allow me to talk about it a bit.

I’ve lived in the area for about 4 years. There are many reasons why I like Fairfield. It’s a beach town, with 4 town beaches that I regularly visit. It has a great town center, with shops, farmer’s market, restaurants and bars. It has sidewalks everywhere (which in Connecticut is not that common of a thing). It has a great school system, which as a parent of a 7-year-old is very important. It’s a quick train ride from New York City, that makes day-trips to Manhattan a breeze. …

First time I visited Puerto Rico was in 2012. I was happily married family man, with a beautiful wife and a 15 year-old stepson. We traveled to Puerto Rico to escape February in New England. My second visit was in May of 2017. I was in month seven of being separated from my wife, going through a divorce that at times felt like a roller coaster. San Juan allowed me to unwind and for a few days forget the real world existed. Visit number 3 happened in November 2018. This was a special visit, because I was coming back to what was quickly becoming my favorite vacation destination to help. 13 months after Hurricane Maria devastation, many parts of the island very still badly damaged. …

Until April of 2019 I have never been to Vancouver. I have never considered going to Vancouver. The only two things I knew about Vancouver were: it’s on the West Coast and I have college friends who live there.

Then a project came alone with our Canadian office, and I traveled to Vancouver 3 different times between May and July of last year. I didn’t have a ton of time to explore the city, but I did have an opportunity to eat, since that’s kind of a basic need. Here are 10 places I tried out and enjoyed.

On February 13, 2020 my cousin died by suicide. He was 10 years younger than me, happy, handsome kid, a big favorite of my daughter’s. We have a close-nit family, and his death was the biggest blow our family has ever faced. We were buried under a mountain of grief, guilt, and questions that will never be answered. We spent the first few weeks congregating at my parents’ house supporting each other. Then about a month later COVID-19 hit and Governor of Connecticut issued Stay at Home order.

The initial impact of the COVID-19 and Stay at Home order was almost “good”. For a moment, an event of such magnitude was unfolding that it overshadowed our grief, even if only briefly. Then the reality set in. The family was now physically separated, each confined to their own homes, with me living by myself, about an hour away from the rest of them. Fortunately, I have my daughter with me half the time and unknowingly to her she’s done a good job on the days she’s with me to help me cope. But as the days turned into weeks, and weeks are now turning into months, the weight of the grief that I am carrying alone most of the time, has only gotten heavier. The inability to actually grieve ‘normally’ is only amplifying it. …

A few years ago, I was sharing a story how my 5-year-old adorably sings a Selena Gomez song, when someone asked me:

“How does she even know this song?”

“She heard it in the car, so I showed her the video on YouTube”

“Oh wow, no way, I don’t let my kids watch YouTube, or TV. We try not to have much screen-time at all.”

Look, I don’t judge parents who parent without any screen-time. I never judge the way parents parent their children, especially since I became a parent. …