Cooking breakfast for my wife used to be one of those small rituals that anchored our mornings together. Whether it was blueberry pancakes, avocado toast, or hash browns, each dish felt like a simple but meaningful way to start the day. There’s something about breakfast that sets the tone—dinner is what we look forward to after a long day, lunch can feel like an afterthought in the rush of things, but breakfast? Breakfast offers a sense of possibility, a chance to begin the day with intention.
Now, though, mornings look a little different. With a new baby in the house, time has taken on a whole new meaning. The leisurely pace of making a full breakfast doesn’t always fit into the blur of bottles, diapers, and early-morning wake-ups. Those favorite meals—pancakes and avocado toast—are often replaced with quick fixes. Sometimes, when we’re especially pressed for time, cereal becomes my go-to.
Cereal has its charm. There’s a nostalgia to it that takes me back to childhood mornings, back when breakfast was as simple as pouring milk over a bowl of sugar-coated grains. It’s comforting in its own way, but it’s not the same as cooking something with care and intention. I haven’t felt a sense of accomplishment over a bowl of cereal since I was old enough to pour the milk myself.
Lately, I’ve found myself thinking about how life, like breakfast, doesn’t always go as planned. Having our first child, we knew there would be changes, but living through those changes has been a whole different experience. It’s easy to feel like you’re constantly making trade-offs—settling for cereal instead of pancakes, so to speak. Whether it’s choosing a car that’s more practical or renting an apartment without the amenities you envisioned, life often requires us to choose what works over what we once dreamed about.
And sure, we tell ourselves these compromises are temporary, that one day we’ll get the things we’ve put off. But it’s hard to escape that sense of settling in the moment. Even when I look at the joy my new role as a dad brings, there are days when the familiar routine of cooking breakfast feels far away, a distant memory of a simpler time.
Yet, in all of this, I’ve learned to embrace the present. Whether it’s the simplicity of cereal or the chaos of new parenthood, life unfolds in its own rhythm. There’s beauty in the adjustments we make, in the way we adapt. And maybe, just maybe, those hurried breakfasts are a reminder that perfection isn’t always the goal. Some days, a bowl of cereal is exactly what we need to get through. And that’s okay too.
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