Tag Archives: sunday

Fresh Content Day 33: A Great Sunday

Today was a good day. No, today was a great day.

Dear Diary…

I kid. But This will be as close to a diary post as you’re likely to find here.

But everything I did today was with a purpose and satisfied a particular aspect of my life.

I started the day with a hot shower and shave. Then I got our son ready for church while my wife prepared herself. He hasn’t been feeling well, so I put him in a shirt that says “Always By Mom’s Side,” because that’s where he likes to hang out when he’s under the weather.

We go to church, and as always, he’s a good boy, albeit a little talkative. Then as we’re heading home, and admittedly almost home, my wife reminds me that there’s an Easter Egg Hunt being held at Eckert’s Orchard. So we swing out there. I’ll say this – I’ve ran some Easter Egg Hunts in the past, but this was organized like a well-oiled machine. Granted, Eckert’s has the resources we didn’t have at that time. But it was a great time. The youngin’s 0-2 years old went first in their zone (it was roped off by age group), so we took our time and let Garrett explore.

But then we saw no one was going after the eggs waaaay out there. So I picked up the G-Man and we took off to the edge, and got our dozen eggs. Then we got a picture with Peter Cottentail, got a little treat, and boogied on outta there.

So Friday was my friend Jared’s birthday, and I had worked it out with his wife to run down to surprise him for nine holes of golf and dinner. So after I got home, I needed to change, make my coffee for the road, get my golf clubs together, etc. The problem was I’m unorganized as hell, and I couldn’t find my wallet (yeah – I left the house and drove without my license – oops). Also, I was looking for a particular shirt, and a golf hat. It threw me off my schedule, but since Jared didn’t know I was paying him a visit anyway, it was all good.

So I get on the road, I knock out some podcasts, and surprise my friend. His reaction was pretty good. He lives about an hour and a half away, so we don’t see each other all that often. So he wasn’t expecting me, and that made it awesome. We went to Perryville to get nine holes of golf in. We came to the conclusion that between the two of us, we’re a pretty good golfer. My strength is the tee shot and Jared’s good at everything else. I can occasionally putt halfway decent, but this was our first time golfing together, and we tied. We both shot a 49. Hell, I’m thrilled with a 49. First time out in almost a year, a tightened and sore back. I’ll take it.

After golf, we went for a burger. Now, it wasn’t JUST a burger. Jared’s been talking to me for over a year about Mary Jane’s Burgers and Brew there in Perryville. The food did not disappoint, and the atmosphere was tremendous. Even for Sunday around 4:30 or so, no problem getting a table or anything. I had the Cowboy, a burger with cheddar cheese, bacon, an onion ring, and homemade bbq sauce. I got it with the onion petals. And as an appetizer, we got the poutine, complete with fried cheese curds.

Man, I tell you this, I probably waddled out of there.

So to recap the day, I had a great time at church, made memories with the family for our son’s first mobile Easter, got to golf and had great food with my friend. Now I’m watching Wrestlemania on my PS3 because the PS4 isn’t picking up the interwebs. So…confined to my bedroom to write to you.

And now – good night.

Fresh Content Day 26: The Forgotten Sunday

Plain and simple…I forgot to write last night. Part of that was I had been awake until the wee hours Sunday morning doing laundry. So I was tired.

After my wife, our son, and I headed north to visit family, the little guy fell asleep on the way home. It was necessary. He was tired. But it was a little later than his normal nap, so we knew he would be up a little later than normal.

Here’s the thing. My wife works nights, and when she works, I can usually have our son asleep by 7 or 7:30. There are occasional anomalies where he’ll stretch that out a little longer, but for the most part, certainly by 8pm, he can be out. When mama’s home, he likes to stay awake a little longer. I am convinced he just loves her more than me. But I digress.

So as Little Man is fighting sleep, I finally just scoop him up and hold him until he finally gives in. But at that point, I was tired, and I went to bed myself. Hence why I didn’t post last night.

A nice thing happened to me at church yesterday. My wife worked Saturday night and since we had planned on the trip up to see family, she stayed home and got 90 or so minutes of sleep after her 12.5-hour shift. So it was just me and the boy. And he does pretty well in church. It’s rare for him to scream, but he does make noises. I try to keep him relatively calm. Sometimes I succeed, sometimes, not so much. Yesterday was a day where he was trying to talk over our priest while the priest was reading the gospel. So knowing that my son probably wasn’t going to just clam up for the homily, I stepped out to the back of church with him. I was right. He didn’t shut up. But my hope was that at least the sound would be muffled somewhat. So we go back to our seat when it’s time for the collection and when there’s also some music to help cover up the boy’s enthusiasm for Jesus (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it). Having never attempted this before, I gave my son the check for the offering and without hesitation, he tried to chew on it. I’M KIDDING!  He placed it in the collection basket right on time, and got a nice smile from the usher.

Okay, so the TL; DR version is this. My son is talkative during Mass. I do my best to keep him from being a distraction. And after Mass, an older woman sitting a little bit in front of us walking passed and said I was a good dad. I said thank you, and that I’m trying.

Both are true. I am appreciative of kind words I receive, regardless of what they are about. When a superior at work tells a customer that I’m the go-to guy to answer their questions because of my product knowledge, it means a lot. And I try to reward their confidence by being *that guy* when it comes to questions. Even my co-worker across the showroom asks me questions.

When someone says I’m a good dad, it’s obviously rewarding. I was also thrown off a bit because I don’t know if I’m ready yet to be called a good dad. My dad is a great dad. I have no problem seeing the qualities in my friends that make them good fathers, and acknowledging those and telling my friends they are good dads. I just don’t know if I’m doing all required of me to be classified as a good dad.

I don’t say that looking for a pat on the back or an “atta boy” or anything like that. I’m just sure that I can do better and look forward to being a good dad for his entire life, not just seen an hour at a time on Sunday mornings. If he makes it through his life being kind, showing respect, and treating others right, I’ll then look back and say I did enough to be considered a good dad. In other words, the Golden Rule. Or the new Commandment – “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Until then, I’ll just keep telling people that I’m trying.