Being A Dad

Started Father's Day morning by rolling the meatballs and gathering the roast beef for the birthday celebration that we have for all three boys - their days are fairly close so we do them all at once, and while we always consider having the thing catered...I want to cook...because I think of my Dad saying:

"We ain't serving sh*t to these people."

So, I do it for my Dad, and as a Dad and I'm making sauce usually anyway, so it's just a bigger pot.

Yet as I moved around...and I'm moving around better...(we may be on to something with fixing my legs)...I thought about a lot of things as they pertain to being a Dad.

First:

You're always last.

In the scheme of things around the house the interests go like this:

Kid 1
Kid 2
Kid 3
Mom
Dog 1
Dog 2
Dad

It's funny but we were having a normal conversation about something the other day as we drove around and my beautiful wife said this:

"You aren't the main focus of anything."

We both laughed and she tried to say that she hadn't properly articulated what she needed to say, but it's true.

Years ago my Dad was in the hospital. He asked me to 'keep an eye on his wallet.'

I picked it up.

There was a single dollar in it.

He'd worked himself to a nub for 60 years and he had one dollar.

I had started to laugh. I held up the dollar.

"You're like a four-year-old," I said.

"Yeah, it's funny," he said. "You vultures swiped nearly every nickel."

"Can I borrow a buck?" I asked.

"Take it," he answered.

I laughed and my brothers and sisters gathered with us laughed as well.

And he was serious!

Cut to a month ago here.

All three of my clowns were gathered in my room, at my computer, with my wallet. They were using my credit card to buy their tickets to a sporting event.

I heard laughter.

"What?" I called from the room below.

"You have six bucks," Sam yelled.

"Like a little kid," Jake answered.

Matt laughed the loudest.

(He's the one who's really making sure I'm well below the poverty line, but my beautiful wife is a crook as well).

But there it was.

Their laughter because I was just there for them.

Being a Dad.

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