This last week, it was my dad's birthday and he happened to be in town visiting my sister and me. Despite his protests my sister decided to host a very small do - with chocolate and another spongy cake. Being a week day, just getting ready meant the Lovely Wife (LW for short) had to pick up Max from her karate class, Roz from her dance class and yours truly dashing home from work. Once all of us were under the same roof critical choices had to be made - who'd wear what (not those shorts! - what happened to your pink shirt?) and whether showers (never quick in our house) would be taken or not. Any outing in our lovely domicile, however brief would put even the shabby prep for the invasion of Iraq to shame. So finally we were ready in a manner of speaking.
As we were about to set out (which meant the LW and I were still chasing the girls to get into their outfits, turn off the lights and quit fighting over which shoes were whose) the girls decided to once again prepare me for what was expected from me - specifically what I should not do or say in public!
"You can't talk about us there!" said Roz. "You always embarrass us, by talking about us," added Max. "You think you are sooo funny, dad!" she continued, "You always promise not to say anything and all you do is talk about us." "You know Max took so looong to get ready, that's why we are late," she mimicked my deep voice.
My usual response, "But I am so proud of you, that's why I talk about you girls!" is always greeted with howls of disbelief. "I am never going out with you if you talk about us again," added Roz in that serious manner of hers. "And don't tell everyone how we told you to not talk about us!" is Max's parting warning, wanting to make sure that I was absolutely clear on the subject.
I remember being the single guy at many parties promising myself that I would never become one of those parents, we all meet, who seemed to have no life of their own. Even after marriage but before LW and I had kids, at get togethers with friends we seemed to run into parents who spoke of nothing but their kids. Certainly going by their conversation these parents had ceased to have a life of their own, even if they had ever had one. Oh cruel world, I have to be honest and admit I am one of those parents now! The LW's natural reticence makes her less likely to have attacks of let-me-tell-you-what-my-kids-just-did or can-you-believe-how-smart-my-kids-are, but I seem to no such difficulty! Roz and Max's admonishments only seem to spur me to even more tales of my kids' exploits and this blog entry is one more instance of it I suspect!
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2 comments:
So..I am curious to learn - Were you a good dad that night? Did you manage to say nothing - good or bad (as they would perceive) - about them?
At least once the kids caught me out talking about them - so for most part I was a nice dad!
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