I’m writing this as Rocket, my 16-year-old dog, snores next to me in the bed my wife and I share. Usually he isn’t allowed in here, but these are not usual times. And I’m not even talking about facism for once. The day after Christmas, my family adopted a cat. Her name is Jinx. It is not a name I would have chosen, but it’s what the shelter named her and our 16-year-old son (yes, he and the dog are the same age) wanted to keep it.
The only problem is, Jinx is not a fan of dogs. And so we’ve been keeping the two separate, working on introducing them slowly in order to better the chances that Jinx will not eviscerate the senior canine citizen she shares a house with.
I am decidedly a dog person. My wife is decidedly a cat person. Our son is decidedly both. Which makes me think that my wife and I have done a pretty good job raising this kid.
If you are a parent, you know that it is a really hard job. Yes, there’s lots of wonderful things about raising a child, but some of it really sucks. I’ve heard being a parent called the hardest job in the world, and while I haven’t tried doing every job in the world, this is definitely the hardest one I have ever had.
From the moment my son was born, the fact that he has two moms has always been at the forefront of my mind. I’ve always been very conscious of the fact that having two moms could make his life more difficult. But many of the things I’ve worried about haven’t come to pass.
In 2026, I encourage you to spend time with the people you love and keep them close. I also encourage you to find something that brings you joy.
For example, I worried that he might get teased at school. That hasn’t really been a problem. I worried that he would have friends whose parents wouldn’t want their kid hanging out with him. (I actually suspect that happened in two instances, but I don’t have proof. Also, one of those kids did come over for a summer playdate once and sprayed a garden hose at full force into our house through the screen door. So no big loss in my book.)
But, by and large, other kids don’t care that he has two moms.
It turns out, I wasn’t worrying about the right things when he was born. I didn’t worry about sexting or any of the myriad ways a kid’s life can be ruined during the split second it takes to post a photo to the internet. I mean, I was a teenager in the ’90s. If someone wanted to show a reputation-ruining photo to the whole school, they would have to work really hard to make that happen. It would involve making copies of a physical photo and disseminating that photo in the physical world. Not impossible, mind you, but also not easy.
It also never occurred to me to worry that the country we lived in would stop being a functioning democracy and/or fall to fascism. Or that the man this country elected twice would be more likely to look at and share a young girl’s explicit image than any of the boys in your average high school.
Alas, here we are.
I’ve spent a lot of 2025 feeling bad. I mean, it’s hard not to unless you tune everything happening in this country and in the world out. Trust me, many days I want to do that, but it feels irresponsible. Especially since as soon as you have a kid, the future feels like there’s far more at stake.
I will likely spend a lot of 2026 feeling bad, too.
But I really do want to have hope. I know that a lot of people are hanging their hopes on the 2026 midterms. The “vote blue no matter who” types have a fantasy that Democrats will take control of both the U.S. House and Senate and will stop Trump’s fascist agenda and impeach him. I mean, I wouldn’t be sad to see that happen.
But I sure as hell won’t be holding my breath.
In 2026, I encourage you to spend time with the people you love and keep them close. I also encourage you to find something that brings you joy.
For example, I’ve been binge watching “The Golden Girls.” I love it so much. As each episode begins, the streaming service gives me the “Skip Intro” option. I never do. I always listen to the theme song and often sing along. I’ve also been listening to “The Golden Girls Deep Dive Podcast,” which I highly recommend.
I’m not suggesting you tune out. Fascism thrives on inattention. But fascism also wants to rob you of every scrap of joy. I’m not going to let it. That’s my 2026 resolution.