Ed Lavezzo is a Stay at home dad for three wonderful kids, Stella (9), Kayla (8) & Ben (7). He has been married to his wife Cecilia for just under 11 years. They currently live in Essex Fells, NJ where she is a Gastroenterologist. Ed has been a SAHD since December 2016. Before that, he was a tax accountant for 15 years. “The toughest part for me in going from working a traditional office job to being a SAHD was losing the identity I didn’t know I had,” Ed admitted that he wasn’t expecting to have gone through the mental struggle that he had when he embarked on his new path. “Two moments really changed the path I was going down for me and I have my wife to thank for both. She came to me a few months into being a SAHD and told me that I seemed mad all the time and that I might want to talk to someone. I knew she was right and I started going to a therapist shortly after.” While going to Therapy, Ed realized he was going through a period of loss that came with the change of careers. The second moment of change was attending his first HomeDadCon(HDC) in Portland, which his wife discovered for him. “I was in a city, alone, all the way across the country not knowing anyone who was there. Then on a quick train ride to one of the events a conversation with another attendee that was standing next to me opened my heart. We were both gripping about our everyday life where he told me one example of his frustration. It was almost exactly an experience I had. At that moment I realized maybe I wasn’t so alone in my struggles. Unknowingly that dad allowed me to give myself a break and just let go for the weekend.” Ed has attended every HDC since then and is currently a board member with the National At-Home Dad Organization. Ed admits that even after years of being a SAHD, the mental side of things can still be a struggle. “I need to make sure to take time for myself and give myself an outlet away from my normal day-to-day. If I don’t, the effects are definitely noticeable. I know that I am not being the dad I can be.” Over the last year, Ed has used the pandemic to be able to focus on his health. “I knew that I had let my health get out of control and I wasn’t the example to my kids that I needed to be.” So he focused on getting healthy and discovered new passions along the way that he didn’t know he had. Ed began running and found the time to be meditative and replenishing. Ed also joined his local volunteer fire department and is now in the fire academy as well. “I am at the point where I want to show my kids that if I put a goal out there to achieve, if you put in the work and dedication, that you can achieve it.”