Father's Day

As we have discussed, I am lacking in the male parental role. This Father's Day however was a whole different experience. I got to see lots of varieties of fathers. And none of them were related to me which is a new change.

The only positive male figure I had in my life was my grandfather. He is an amazing man. He chose to be with my grandmother although she already had 5 children. She later came to have 2 more with him. He has always been a little too smitten with my grandma which would be cute. Except they are divorced. And he makes her crazy. But they still sit side by side at all of our family functions. I am not sure how he was as a father but as a grandfather, he is great. We call him Papa Smurf because he is so short. He could always be found watching the races or pretending to be asleep (then kicking us as we walked by). If I had to have one male in my life, I am glad it could be this one. Usually the aunties will take him out for fathers day. The tradition continued this year.

Then I had a son. And he has a father. And that is all he can really be called. My son spent the weekend including Father's Day with his step mom. And was not returned to me until 8:42pm. He was supposed to be home at 6pm and goes to bed at 7:15ish. He is an ass. But I am attempting not to whine. Too much.

Then there is Doodle. He is an amazing father. He had his boys from 9-6 and gleaned every minute from them. He danced in the car with them. And barked along to "Who let the dogs out" on their favorite family friendly station-Radio Disney. On more than one occasion, his boys snuggled up against him and he easily swung his arm around them. No concern with making them "wussy boys" just him making sure they were loved. Both of the boys just randomly came up to him and hugged him across the belly while saying "I love you dad". I seriously almost had tears. I am such a sap.

Then there is Doodle's father. 3 generations of Doodle boys all in a room. He makes jokes. Tells stories about things they did when they were younger. Friends they have gone to visit. He is sick but you can see how much he loves them all. He has his coughing fits then just continues on with what he was saying. He is a fighter. And I have a feeling these boys (and his wife) are why.

This year I got to sit with a great family that was not my own. There was no dysfunction. No yelling. Everyone was content just to be together. No drama. No excessive craziness. No stepping over people on the floor because we are out of chairs. I love my family but this was so nice. A chance to be celebrating good fathers.