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In the beginning, he was nervous and unsure -- afraid of making a mistake. The brand-new gym shorts and T-shirt bore no telltale signs of an athlete. No Gatorade stains, no frayed seams, no unmistakable “I’ve done my workout” aroma. To be honest, he just didn’t look like he belonged in the middle of a ball field, baseball glove stiff on his unpracticed hand.

For as long as I can remember, I knew I would have a grand passion in my life, and for the better part of my life, I assumed it would be my career.

I’m not the outgoing type at all. Meeting new people and jumping right into conversations are not easy for me. But I do have one personality trait that is to my advantage—determination.

House-husband. Primary caregiver. At-home parent. Full-time dad. All these terms are descriptive, but I usually describe myself as an at-home dad.

This Mother’s Day, I would like to go beyond the presents, the expectations, the “perfect day” mentality.

I wondered if I was cut out for motherhood, a role that seemed to demand so much that was foreign to me.

An unexpected thing happened when I put my son on the school bus for the first time.

How would our mothering experiences be different if we were no longer so exhausted- sometimes so completely exhausted- that we wake up in the mornings longing for just a few more minutes of sleep?

My mother was a good mother, but she didn’t really believe in keeping house. She had grown up in a family of New York bohemians who believed that a clean house was the sign of a wasted mind. Keeping house was viewed as an exercise in futility which, ultimately, it is.

Less than 20 miles from Washington, DC, there are 6600 acres of protected lands on the Mason Neck peninsula along the Potomac River. This beautiful land, an important nesting site for bald eagles, herons, and many other animals, was almost lost to suburban sprawl.