New York State of Mind

Name: Kaleb "Kal" Desai

Born: October 23, 1992

Nicknames: Kal, "the hair"

Raised: New York

Parents: Mother is a lawyer, father is a professor

Siblings: One older brother, professor, two younger sisters, both are still in college

Children: None

“until they’re on a regular sleeping schedule, i definitely sleep when they sleep. when i had binx, i’d have tilly and winnie take a nap so i could also take a nap. i still do sometimes if i really need it. thankfully my tiny humans don’t put up much a fight unless they’re in a mood.”

“we definitely do every now and then. it’s what keeps us sane. oh please, you know he can’t be mad at me for very long. he’ll go to aunt ellie’s, bitch about it, ellie will tell him some stories about how i irritated her when we were kids, and he’ll come back and roast me about it and then we’ll be alright, happens every time. in the mean time, we have the entire house to ourselves and we should definitely do something.”

“oh, gabby helps a lot too. and wyatt too, when he’s over. honestly we hit the oldest kid jackpot. the ones we had as literal children, act more adult than we did at their age - or any age. that’s when you know you’ve raised them right. i always worry that gabby will think i’m taking advantage of her, but i never ask or expect her to do any mom duties with the littles, she just does it on her own. i’m glad i had her first. my brother was the same way with me and cher, and he really was like a third parent,” she said. ellie played with the straw in her drink for a few seconds as she leaned back in her chair. “okay. but if something is going on, at least talk to her about it. y’all seem like you’ve been doing really good, i haven’t heard about any arguments. stay on top of it. and not just you, she needs to stay on top of it too, it’s a group effort.”

“oh, i never let it get that far. maybe it’s caused me to make dinner a little later than usual, but never to completely miss something or forget about something important. i’ve recently made it a rule to only mess with it when the kids are taking naps or after they’ve gone to bed, cause who wants to watch momma play a game instead of playing with them.”

“you forgot voice actress, model, theater actress, composer, writer, and producer, but i’ll let it slide,” she said with a small laugh. “i don’t think it’s necessarily a gender thing, i think it depends on the person. the twins and harlow’s daddy can handle all the kids at once, but ollie and harper’s dad and gabby and axel’s dad definitely wouldn’t be able to,” she said. ellie gave him a sympathizing half smile. “are things going okay? have there been any arguments lately, or something gone wrong? dess hasn’t mentioned anything to me, so i’ve assumed you guys were doing alright.”

“honestly, i don’t know. i definitely lose track of time when i’m playing. it’s not to the point where i forget about my real life babies though, i’ve heard stories about those people and i just can’t imagine that.”

“i have so many jobs i forget about some of them. just the other day, my agent was like ‘hey, social media guru, maybe you should actually post something on social media’. like sorry, i have forty thousand other jobs and four babies still on the boob, the last thing i’m thinking about is getting on twitter every two hours to keep the timeline happy,” she said with a shrug. “right? that wall’s getting more than i do and that’s saying something,” she said, giving up on actually hitting the dart board and sitting down. “things not so lucky for you?”

“they sure are! it’s the sims 4, i play constantly and it’s an addiction.”

“i have several day jobs, i can substitute one of them,” she said, throwing another dart, which ended up in the wall again. “listen, if that was in fact a pressure point, that wall just had an orgasm.”

eleven years ago, my life forever changed with your birth for i had a new title to my name: dad. and it is to this day my favorite one of all. wyatt, you have been beautiful since the moment you were brought into this world (though you are half your mom that was kind of a given) and as you continue growing (much as i would like to slow time down) i have no doubt you will go onto become an incredible human being and do amazing things with your life. you are already an incredible young man who doesn't mind dealing with his siblings (most of the time) and you have a huge heart and an inner beauty that shines so brightly, i hope the world doesn't diminish it. happy birthday wyatt, having you in my life has changed it in the greatest ways possible and words cannot express my love for you and your siblings and while that love is equal, you are the one that made me dad and that's something i never take for granted. here's to eleven years, can't wait to see what the future brings. 

love always,