45th letter from Mihai Mon 1 Sep, 2025 Colmar, France A book that inspires me a lot these days Hey Reader, I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a rooted dad. What does that really mean to me? What’s the first step on this path? For me, being rooted means being present. Being part of your family’s life. Showing up for the consequences, good or bad. Taking responsibility. Staying curious. Being interested. And at the same time, not giving up on yourself. Living your life too. Not...
3 days ago • 3 min read
44th letter from Mihai Sat 30 Aug, 2025 Colmar, France The bushes I pruned today. Hopefully it's not too much Hey Reader, This past year we've been staying at Aurelie’s parents’ place. This is the house she grew up in. Out front there’s this row of bushes that makes a kind of green fence. On our side, they’ve been eaten by bugs and started drying out. A few months ago, we had a gardener come and cut back the dead parts. Since then, Aurelie’s been taking care of it. Spraying treatments and...
5 days ago • 1 min read
43rd letter from Mihai Tue 26 Aug, 2025 Colmar, France Exploring India's backwaters a few years ago Hey Reader, At my favorite café here in Colmar, one of the waiters asks people: what would bring you pleasure? Not “what do you want to order.” Just: what would bring you pleasure? That question stayed with me. It reminded me of a time with Aurélie, before we became parents. We were in Goa, in India, visiting a temple. On the way back I asked her, in my usual serious way, what’s the meaning of...
9 days ago • 1 min read
42nd letter from Mihai Mon 25 Aug, 2025 Colmar, France Ever ate at a Korean Barbecue restaurant? Hey Reader, This week we were lucky. Cléo’s grandparents, my in-laws, were very available. They’re leaving on holiday today, so the whole week they said: let us take Cléo as much as we can. It gave us some time off, and they also got to spend more time with her now that she’s older.They took her to the pool and the park a few times. And they really encouraged us to take time for ourselves, to do...
10 days ago • 3 min read
41st letter from Mihai Thu 21 Aug, 2025 Colmar, France Who's driving (in) your family? Hey Reader, In the letter I sent two days ago, I shared the story of Aurélie and I going canyoning in the Vosges Mountains. What I didn’t say is that it was a fairly long drive. Overall, I drove about four hours that day. And even though that may not seem like much for many, for me it’s a good distance. Driving has changed for me. When Aurélie and I first started dating, a little more than three years ago,...
14 days ago • 1 min read
40th letter from Mihai Tue 19 Aug, 2025 Longemer Lake, Lorraine, France Have you ever tried canyoning? Hey Reader, I’m writing from a lake in the Vosges mountains, about an hour from Colmar. My feet are knee-deep in fresh mountain water. I’m watching people enjoy their holidays: driving small rental boats, swimming, jumping off paddle boats. A couple just came into the water with a tiny inflatable boat, paddling together. And I think, yes, that’s how a couple should work. Paddling in the same...
16 days ago • 3 min read
39th letter from Mihai Sat 16 Aug, 2025 Colmar, France What's your favourite ice-cream flavour other than chocolate? Yesterday, for the first time, Cléo spent the whole afternoon with her grandparents. They took her to a nearby river, they had some food, and then they told us she had a little bit of ice cream. My first reaction was that it was nice. One of those moments you remember. Cléo is 16 months old now, and she’s never had sugar. Aurélie and I had agreed we wouldn’t give her sugar...
19 days ago • 3 min read
38th letter from Mihai Tue 12 Aug, 2025 Colmar, France Cléo at the nature park we visited that day. Just before everything unfolded. Hey Reader, I’m writing this from my standing desk here in Colmar. We just got back from our holidays in England and Sweden. Cléo and Aurélie are off visiting a friend, and I’m slowly starting to get things back in order. Traveling yesterday came with its own share of challenges. Two flights, a toddler, too many bags. It wasn’t long, but it was long enough to...
23 days ago • 3 min read
37th letter from Mihai Wed 6 Aug, 2025 Stockholm, Sweden A very rooted tree I spotted on a morning walk with Cléo here in Sweden Hey Reader, After the vulnerable letter I sent yesterday, six people unsubscribed. And honestly, I felt good about that. If I can’t be honest with the people reading these letters, then I don’t want to keep pretending.Vulnerability should filter the room. What mattered more was the support that came in after.Some of you replied, some clicked, most of you stayed. And...
29 days ago • 1 min read