Chat Animator, First Dates & The Most Generous Lens

3 Things I'm Loving, Reading, Watching or Doing

Current Bedtime Read:
We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker. A good old-fashioned police thriller with some satisfying twists. I also enjoyed All the Colors of the Dark, so I guess I’m officially a Whitaker fan now

Moment of the Week:
30 years ago, I asked my wife on our first date. We were 16. It was the lamest, least poetic delivery imaginable (Who addresses their future girlfriend by her last name?!), but it turned out to be the most important question of my life. We saw Candyman and shared cheese sticks in a red leather Pizza Hut booth. Who could have predicted that this awkward little moment tipped the dominoes toward our lovely chaotic life - five amazing kids, a business we genuinely enjoy, and the current Teacher of the Year at her school (shout out to Erin!). I’m a lucky dude!

Best AI Find This Week:
Chat Animator – lets you create fake phone chat animations in seconds. Super easy and free to use.

2 Quotes Worth Pondering

Unexpressed expectation equals premeditated resentment.

— Neil Strauss

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.

— Simone Weil

1 Big Dad Idea

The Most Generous Lens

What if the problem isn’t what someone did—but how we saw it?

Every day, we interpret the people we love. Our spouse, our kids, our friends. We assign motives. We read between lines. We assume. Sometimes we’re right. But many times … we’re not even close.

Take parenting. One kid rolls their eyes. Another interrupts you mid-sentence. Your teenager leaves his cereal bowl in the living room again—like it’s part of the décor.

It’s easy to snap:

• Who does that?

• Why are you being disrespectful?

• Seriously, is it that hard to clean up after yourself?

But what if we asked a different question?

What’s the most generous way to see this?

Maybe the interruption wasn’t disrespect—it was excitement.

Maybe the sarcasm wasn’t rebellion—it was a clumsy bid for connection.

Maybe the forgotten bowl wasn’t laziness—it was distraction after a tough day.

The most generous lens doesn’t mean we excuse everything. But it does mean we pause long enough to ask:

• Is there a better story I could be telling myself right now?

• Is it possible they didn’t even realize how that came across?

• How would I want to be interpreted if the roles were reversed?

That story changes everything. It softens our tone. It slows our reaction. It keeps the connection open when our instinct is to shut it down.

And yes—this is hard. Especially when we’re tired, stressed, or running on empty ourselves. Or, in our house when there are six other stories to consider, I sometimes think, Now everybody can’t get my benefit of the doubt on the same day. One of y’all gonna catch a little heat today. 😂

But the way we see people shapes how they show up. Choosing a generous lens can lead to more peaceful interactions and deeper connections, and even small shifts in our perspective can make a big difference in our relationships.

Try it on for size this week and see how it feels!