August 22, 2008. (old) Yankee Stadium. ESPN Zone Time Square. My dad and I. Sarah Palin was just about to be announced as the VP on the McCain ’08 ticket. The world was going mad. In a funny way. No one had a clue that it would soon get even madder. And WAY more funnierererer.
Cut to JFK airport in New York City, my dad and I about to board a plane to Chicago. In a few days, he’d turn 70. My gift to him was a surprise trip to Wrigley Field to watch the Phillies (lose) to the Cubs. A classic Wrigley matinee. This after we watched one of the final Red Sox v. Yankees contests in old Yankee Stadium. He’d never been to Wrigley and I wanted to show him that mid-summer’s cathedral before, well. Before.
August 22, 2008. At-Home Dad. Day one. I was away from them at the start of this journey, in NYC & Chicago with my dad (see above) which is kinda funny, I think. I’ve been apart from my girls here and there over the last 5 years but mostly, it’s been me and them and possibilities.
August 2013. Home alone; writing books and blog posts and articles and stories, designing t-shirts, going to movies, doing laundry, listening to many podcasts, recording one. Kids in school.
In 5 years flat I went from working dad to at-home dad to lazy. Boom!
And I completely forgot to mark the occasion last week.
August 22, 2013 came and went with no balloons. No fanfare. I remembered August 22 on August 23, but by then I took more comfort in knowing that it isn’t significant, not really, not like it was 5 years ago.
This is who I am, who I was meant to be: a creative, a homemaker, a sometimes lazy dude watching soccer in his underwear, packing lunches, making dinners, giving hugs, mowing the lawn, and reading bedtime stories.
Oh, and my dad turns 75 this week! How’s another adventure sound, pops?
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