Being a new father can be a bewildering experience. Getting used to a new state can be as well. For writer David McGlynn, both of these experiences played out at the same time, as he and his wife and their two young children adjusted to life in their new home in Appleton, where McGlynn teaches at Lawrence University.
McGlynn's new memoir, One Day You’ll Thank Me: Lessons from an Unexpected Fatherhood, is a chronicle of that time, and delves into how the relationship between father and son can transcend generations. This is his second memoir, following 2012’s award-winning A Door in the Ocean. He is also the author of The End of the Straight and Narrow, which won the 2008 Utah Book Award.
One of the key lessons McGlynn learned - and which he imparts in the book - is the importance of time spent among family members as an alternative to material gifts. "I didn't really want the presents in the first place, I wanted more time," he says.
McGlynn also looks back at his relationship with his own father, who moved away from the family at a pivotal time in his life. "The lessons I learned from him... I learned through talking to him a few minutes at a time, a couple times a week."
Twelve years after moving to Wisconsin, McGlynn says he now views the state as home. "I find myself longing for Wisconsin when I'm away from it."
David McGlynn will be at Boswell Book Company on Wednesday, June 6 at 7 pm for a discussion about fatherhood and all the triumphs and trials it brings.
