Day 92

Good evening my Corona friends and Happy Father’s day to all those dads out there. I trust everyone had the opportunity to do something nice for the Dad’s in your life. I have to say that I feel like Father’s day gets a bit shortchanged from Hallmark and doesn’t have the same gravitas as Mother’s Day. I know that Mother’s day is one of the busiest days for dining out, where as I am pretty sure Father’s day we give some new grille tools, and Dad does the BBQ.  I am sure it doesn’t apply today with the new wave of Dads being the culinary stars of today, but in the past it may have been to give Mom a break from the kitchen and cooking every meal. Now if you have been reading this blog you know I have not always been the one doing the cooking, when we could avail ourselves of so many wonderful eating establishments, and the fact that I have no place to grill at our living space. When people ask what I miss most about our old house, other than the multiple bathrooms, it is definitely the grill which I did use year round. Just shovel snow around it on the deck and go to go, no messy clean up.  Grill pan is not the same and honestly it can smell up the place fairly quickly. My daughter lucked out with her husband, as Hugh does most of the cooking, if you call roasting kale cooking.  Seriously he is a bit of a show off baking bread and making his own pizza dough. I mean there are a lot of terrific pizza shops, well yes only one Regina’s, but others that will do in a pinch.  My son Max loves to cook and does a pretty decent job of it, and I would say his wife Alana got pretty lucky as well with a chef. Funny how cooking skipped with Erica, and not with my son, but I would say she is pretty smart about that, and let him take on that job. Let me tell you one thing about my roommate, Techie, MacGyver, and my lover he was and is one heck of a Dad, and those kids really hit the jackpot with this one.  He always encouraged them to try new things and follow their passions, which he always supported. I am pretty sure he is the one responsible for keeping them on the straight and narrow and taught them how to be the wonderful parents they are today.  I didn’t have the luxury of having a decent Dad, and yes I do think it is a luxury that should be more appreciated, because it doesn’t happen for everyone. I am telling you when I see my son with his daughter and how wonderful he is with her it blows my mind. As parents there are many times of the year you are tested and right from the beginning you might fantasize about leaving that kid among the lettuce in the supermarket. The teenage years could be very trying and living in the suburbs. The local constables would not take a liking to shooting your paint ball guns at public property, but we made it through. My mother always said to me when I was growing up, I only hope someday you have a daughter just like you, but I was lucky and my daughter turned out more like her Dad. We grew up watching Leave it to Beaver, but we didn’t know any Ward Cleavers. The Dads in our generation never changed a diaper, didn’t cook or do a show and tell at school.  Techie here was often the one going to do something in the classrooms, and even attempt to coach a team. I can say that if he could, he would try and avoid diapers, but I let him have that one.  Today’s Dads are trying as much as possible to be fully participatory in their kids’ lives and it is wonderful.  What has changed these past three months I am sure both Mom and Dad are trying to hide from these kids some, as both working from home and kids schooling from home? I know Techie wouldn’t have, but I probably would have let them watch a lot more TV and whatever else they do on their screens today. I just wouldn’t let them watch the twilight zone because they may get freaked out, and think it is a reality TV show.

I am lucky that today I do have some great Dad’s in my life and Techie, Max and Hugh just keep on doing what you’re doing, and maybe show Dad a bit about the cooking. I can’t help giving a shout out that I do believe I have the three most amazing grandchildren and I guess their Dad’s had something to do with it.

Just sayin