Aaron Plaat

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Large families tend to carry a certain sense of camaraderie; everybody looks out for the other, or looks out for the mother while the children undertake nefarious deeds between each other. In our family, there was a constant mix between these two. On one hand, my siblings were my best friends, playmates, and competition. On […]

One of my favorite ways to get to know somebody is to ask them about their greatest fear. It’s the perfect question to break the ice after an introduction, or first date. Some people are afraid of spiders – others fear abandonment and being lonely. My biggest fear is a tiny one; needles. Even as […]

A lot of things changed after July 29th. I found myself caught somewhere in the middle of being a boy and a man; not old enough to buy a beer – while feeling too young to navigate the world void of a father. I thought back to all of the memories I had shared with […]

In Iron John: A Book About Men, Robert Bly discusses the wound given to young children by their fathers; a hurt which takes the rest of their lives to resolve, while also creating a window for their soul to enter and define itself. My Dad taught me a lot of lessons leading up to this […]

Every child should be so fortunate to have a favorite memory with their parents – or the people that raised them. The two aren’t always one in the same. With 1,385 divorces happening every 5 hours, or the time of a wedding reception, I’m appreciative my parents fought their way through the difficult times and […]

The older I get, the more I realize how rich memories are. They’re a treasure known only to the one that carries them, made richer when they’re shared with the ones you love most. Joy tends to toast itself with the past, which is full of priceless memories. I’ve found a lot of memories which […]

The older I get, the more I realize how rich memories are. They’re a treasure known only to the one that carries them, made richer when they’re shared with the ones you love most. Joy tends to toast itself with the past, which is full of priceless memories. I’ve found a lot of memories which […]

“You can choose your friends but you sho’ can’t choose your family, an’ they’re still kin to you no matter whether you acknowledge ’em or not, and it makes you look right silly when you don’t.” Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird As a homeschooled family, I spent a good portion of my childhood years […]

As a child in a family of eight, I was raised with a different perspective than a lot of the only-child’s I came to know as a young boy. There were many times I’d envy the kids who grew up without siblings – thinking they somehow had it better than I did with their own […]

This week, the world learned of the suicide death of both Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. I was surprised to read through multiple headlines, which seemed to steer clear of using the word “Suicide” in their headline and/or article body. Suicide, it seems, still isn’t a word that many people are comfortable talking about. I […]

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