📘 That feeling when you quit your dream job

This is fine

5 years ago I started my dream job. Next Wednesday is my last day.

Creating a dad brand is like parenting.

There are long nights and it takes a village. (I AM NOT THE DAD. The Dad is the massively talented creative team. But also, you are The Dad. And so is the entire community.)

The goal of parenting is to raise happy, independent adults who can go out into the world and thrive… tragically, WITHOUT YOU. The Dad is now 18 in people years. It's time to pack bags and drive to college. We’re hugging in the dorm room, sniffling and pretending it's allergies.

Looking at this brand I am overwhelmed with emotion. I never took it for granted how lucky I was to be in the right place at the right time with the right people in order to create this uniquely special thing. But now, while The Dad is looking out of the window wondering who on the floor has a fake ID, a montage of memories plays in my head (with Foo Fighters’ Everlong (acoustic version) playing in the background).

In hindsight it's easy to take it as a given that The Dad would become what it did. But our team will never forget those early days, manually inviting people to like our page and guessing how many followers we'd get in 2 months. (Estimates ranged from 2,129 to 83,956... Actual: over 140,000.)

Every day in this job was a gift. The experience exceeded all of my expectations. The work, the people, the good we accomplished. I'm so damn proud of everything the team built.

I'll always be The Dad’s biggest fan. You'll see me liking (loving) the posts and popping up in The Dad Gaming events. I may even show up in content from time to time, like coming back for parents' weekend to destroy some college kids in beer pong.

The Dad is in the exceptionally good hands. I'm excited to see where it is in 1, 5, 10 years.

As for me, I'll be doin what empty nesters do best: getting up absurdly early to watch the birds on my bird feeder.

Excited to announce what's next in the coming months, but for now, raise a red solo cup of natty light to The Dad. I'm so proud of what you've become and can't wait to see the amazing things you'll do in this life.

Don't forget to call. I'll miss you.