Happy Father’s Day! Sure, we only get one day a year but this year it’s the longest day of the year.
I’m thrilled, blessed and grateful to be the father of four great kids. On Father’s Day in particular, I think of my own father, Herbert, who also was the father of four. His wife died at age 33, of leukemia, just a few months after the diagnosis. Dad was left to raise four children under the age of 7 all by his lonesome. How do you survive that gut punch, that heartbreak, that total meltdown of your world? In many ways, my dad never did fully recover. But he did the best he could. We moved from Jersey City, NJ to Hagarville, Arkansas – from the big city to the tiniest speck on the map in the foothills of the Ozarks. “Culture shock” doesn’t do it justice. However, it was a great place for us to grow up with a single parent, and has made my life experiences richer.
We were dirt poor, but our dad bestowed gifts upon us that were priceless: kindness, integrity, compassion.
Herb passed away in 2010. I miss him every day. To anyone who has lost a father, this beautiful song by Billy Bragg is for you.
Hmm, I need to get a gift to get for my wife for our 18th wedding anniversary today, and I’m torn between two fabulous products that I’m sure she’ll love.
This one has a fantastic name
And it can lift lots of stuff – mattresses, washing machines, armoires, exercise equipment, and of course giant Roadrunner-style Acme brand safes that everyone:
has in their homes
likes to lift and move often
The Forearm Forklift is also an “As Seen On TV” product so you know the quality is top-notch.
Then again, this product looks like a winner too:
And the woman on the cover of this package looks happier about lifting her washing machine. So, Shoulder Dolly it is! I can’t wait to see the look on my wife’s face…
My three sons (not these three) and I went to my company’s summer picnic at the Cincinnati Zoo yesterday. My youngest (he’s 10) had just been to Zoo Camp the week prior, so going through the exhibits with him was like being with a miniature Marlin Perkins/Steve Irwin/Thane Maynard. I was amazed at how much he knew about the animals and their habitats… including the fact that one of the large birds in the Wings of the World exhibit (it has nothing to do with Paul McCartney) figured out how to open the automatic doors so they had to put it behind a net to keep it from escaping again.
Our kids don’t go to a lot of summer camps, but I’m sure as heck signing up my son – and probably my daughter – for Zoo Camp again next year. Best investment we’ve made in years.
And mentioning Marlin Perkins gives me an excuse to feature this video:
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t throw in this oldie but goodie:
I love my 11-year-old daughter Leah, and she loves… a good arts and crafts project. She’s quite Pinterest-y. A few days ago, she found a can of chalkboard paint (“create a chalkboard on almost any surface”) in our basement and decided to make a small memo board for her room. Friday she found a piece of cardboard and painted it with the chalkboard paint. Yesterday she cut the cardboard and put it in an old 8.5″ x 11″ picture frame. Today she has a soccer game at 1:30, so she wrote that on her memo board. So far, so good, right?
Well, I also have a 15-year-old son who loves teasing his little sister (what older brother doesn’t?). So when he walked past the memo board after Leah had gone to sleep last night, he decided to add another item to her to-do list.
Sorry Putin, but my money’s on Leah. If she gets half as mad at you as she does at her older brother, you’re toast.
I’m 50 years old and I just learned how to tie my shoes. Wait, let me add a word to that last sentence so I don’t sound quite so moronic: I’m 50 years old and I just learned how to tie my shoes correctly.
Turns out I’ve been doing it wrong all these years, ever since I had to march up to the front of the kindergarten class at St. Anne’s in Jersey City, NJ and show my teacher, Miss Williams, that I knew how to tie a shoelace by demonstrating my proficiency on a Fisher-Price “Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe” toy.
I remember only a few things about my kindergarten experience, but being called up to show my shoe-tying skills is one of them, along with these other nuggets:
Miss Williams mispronounced my name as “Da-MAIN” the entire year.
The twins who sat at my table (a boy and a girl) kept telling me to correct her, but I was so shy I never said a word.
Miss Williams’ perfume was rather pungent.
The entire class was only allowed to take pre-scheduled group bathroom breaks… and by the time the final bell rang each day I really, really, really had to pee, so I would race to our family’s apartment 3 blocks away and pound on the door buzzer with one hand while pinching my… well, you know… with the other, waking my father, who worked the graveyard shift at the post office.
Hmm, where was I before that detour down Memory Lane? Oh yeah, shoe tying. For years I’ve been frustrated by my shoes coming untied all the time, blaming the newfangled round shoelaces for the problem. (I miss my Pro-Keds with the flat laces… those laces would break all the time, but they stayed tied.) However, the real problem was my tying method. Here’s a three-minute TEDTalk that will change your world.
While we’re at it, let’s cut down the number of paper towels we use when drying our hands in public bathrooms:
Happy Easter! Here’s hoping your kids feel like these kids today:
Parents, just a few Easter Egg Hunt reminders…
1. Don’t hide hard-boiled eggs unless:
A. you really really would like egg salad for lunch for the next 3 weeks
B. you keep a map with the location of every egg. If not, it’s guaranteed that at least one egg will go undiscovered… and your house will stink to high heaven in a couple of weeks.
2. Be prepared to find that fake plastic Easter basket “grass” around your house until at least the 4th of July.
3. Using leftover Halloween candy in Easter baskets is unacceptable.
4. Coconut may help your cake look more like a bunny, but most kids won’t eat it.
5. Get the hollow chocolate bunnies unless you want to make an emergency visit to the dentist
Kevin Sullivan on Life advice from a man who lived it: “A good one Damian. Bring our lens into focus after the long weekend or our long life journey.” Jul 7, 09:38
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