Father's Day

Many of us are blessed with the gift of children. I am truly blessed. Through the thick and thin of divorce, Alison and I have been fortunate to keep our kids on the right track. For years, as a young adult male, Father’s Day seemed to be just another day on the calendar. Get a few years behind you, and they become sweeter.

I was fortunate as a child to have a mentor in my dad. He worked to help me to develop into a sports minded kid that did OK in organized sports, only to reach my true potential as an adult. But my dad spent countless hours with me, teaching me how to build model cars / airplanes, to do it right and accept nothing short of my best. He introduced me to control line airplanes, watching in bewilderment as I crashed time and time again, but never giving up hope of me getting my wings. He was amazed when I told him that my buddy Vince and I were flying our planes in the same circle, trying to nibble off the rudder of each others craft in a dogfight. We flew model rockets, watching the twin 24-in. parachutes of our Gemini-Titan rocket catch a thermal on a sweltering July 4^th and rise out of sight over Pineville, never to be recovered.

My dad was my best friend, although like many, I guess that I took him for granted. And now that he’s gone, for some 22 years now, I miss him everyday. Yesterday, my mom, Travis and I visited his grave site to leave some flowers, say the Lord’s Prayer and feel his presence in me. I was ashamed that it had been such a long time since I had visited. Mental note: Don’t forget your Father…

I guess that of my siblings I was the most fortunate, as Lyndsay was the only one of the six grandchildren to be held by him and I’m sure that in some small way, Lyndz is better for it. He was a magical man, with long slender fingers that played violin and loved to direct a mock orchestra, his version of the air guitar. I miss ya dad, Happy Father’s Day!

On Saturday night, Lyndsay, her boyfriend Jonathan and his dad, Steve came to the house for a Father’s Day dinner, served by chef Tom. We cooked up a beautiful salmon fillet with asparagus and rice. It was so good to see Steve, the victim of a stroke just before his 50^th birthday enjoy his meal, making certain to get seconds and even thirds of the salmon. After all of his trials and tribulations, it is so good to once again see him on track. I only wish that I could provide more joy in his life. Jonathan is a special young man working his way through biology and hopefully on to medical school. His sister Alisha is engaged to be married in the next few months. Steve is blessed and so are his children for the loving man that he is.

After dinner we gathered around the boob tube to take in “Running with Scissors” a rather dark comedy. As a connoisseur of the dark comedy, I must admit that this one was nothing short of bizarre. We all seemed to make it through with our senses intact.

Travis awoke on Father’s Day around 9:00 and proceeded to cook me a breakfast of bacon and vanilla, coconut and cinnamon waffles. What an interesting combination and it was so nice to have him cook for me. He’s going to make someone one hell of a wife one day! After breakfast we went to Lowe’s to pick out a new grill for our man cave. We visited with mom who made us a dinner of spare ribs, mashies and salad before departing for a mountain bike ride at Sherman Branch. Trav still has the skills to handle the bike and we had a really fun time. We capped the evening off with National Treasure II. I couldn’t have asked for a better 24 hours from my kids. How blessed I am!

The only downside was the absence of Cathy, who had to leave early to tend to her youngest son Brent, who is giving her a fit these days. I can only hope that maturity kicks in soon and that he realizes that as a follower, you can only be as good as those that you choose to follow. And Brent’s current choice of friends is less that exciting. It hurts me to see her in such pain over Brent’s choices. My co-worker Joe was telling me today that a sheriff’s deputy once told his son that you NEVER make your momma cry. I can only pray that Brent hears that from someone and suddenly he “clicks” get’s it and starts making better decisions. Cathy doesn’t deserve this…