Monday, June 18, 2012

Father's Day





Sunday morning.  


...I'd planned on sleeping in.  After all, if ever it were possible to do so, one would think this day, of all days, the odds were in my favor.


The dog apparently never received the memo however, and by seven a.m, decided his bladder was full enough.


Boxing him one in the chops would only result in a day's worth of guilt, so I bit my tongue, rolled out of bed, and followed a stubby tail to the back door.


I read a line from a book once that said, "once you're up, the damage is done.  You might as well make something of it."    


The hour called for caffeine, and with it, the promise of a sun's grin.  I obliged...


By eight o'clock I was on the back deck, finishing up the first round of edits on, "The Fall."  (Watch for it soon on Amazon ;)


Nine-thirty found the dog prancing around in the back yard as if he owned the place.  Who am I kidding?  His name's Prince for a reason.


Watching him chase frantic robins to higher elevation got me to thinking...


By ten, I was at the high school track, MP3 in hand, rounding the asphalt at a faster clip than I'd earlier anticipated.  


At two miles I eased to a walk, feeling cocky, tossing around such thoughts as, "Getting old?  Not on this day."  


Found myself no longer alone at the track.  Watched a married couple, likely my age, give or take a year, begin speed walking from the 400 meter dash mark.  I considered their pace, thought, "yep, I got some left," and decided to show off a bit.  (At 38, one savors such opportunities.)  


Home by eleven.  Was greeted with a hug by my daughter, who so graciously ignored the sweaty t-shirt.  (She'd used the last of her allowance to buy me a watch for Father's Day. That talent for giving, I do believe she gets it from her mother ;)  


My young Hoopster managed to crawl out of bed while I was busy lapping those walkers, and decided on surprising his pop with breakfast.  I returned home to waffles.


A few hours later found us at the gym, The Hoopster working up a sweat at his weekly basketball clinic, showing up the high school boys, (he's twelve and learning fast.)


And it was then when my phone began jittering from my pocket. 


"Hello?"


"Hey Dad."


"Hi Son.  How was your day on the lake."


"Awesome.  The waves made for some wicked tubing."


"Good to hear."


"Hey Dad, I just wanted to call and wish you a Happy Father's Day.  Hope you had a good day."


"Thanks Son.  That means a lot.  And yes, I did.  Wanna watch a movie or something tonight?"


"Yep, I'll be there!"


...maybe I'm growing soft with age, perhaps even nostalgic.  But those three, and this day, that's what it's all about ;)


Thanks for reading,


El


http://www.amazon.com/South-Charm-A-Novel-ebook/dp/B005DJ945A/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1340068616&sr=1-1&keywords=south+of+charm+by+elliot+grace
  

12 comments:

Elliot Grace said...

...Blogger's misbehaving once again!

By highlighting over the lines that have been whited out, they can be easily read.

El

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Oh what a shame that Blogger messed with this nice Father's Day post. Still, I got the gist of it. Sounds like you had a wonderful day, and that you have great kids!

Dana said...

Sounds like a perfect day. :)

Susan Kane said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful day!

Lara Schiffbauer said...

Happy Father's day, a little late! Lovely post :)

dolorah said...

I treasure my weekends for sleeping in. I rarely get to be before 2a during the work week, and its usually 3 or 4a on weekends. The last two weekends my family has had me up and moving before 8a. This coming weekend, I'm ignoring all of them.

But, I do find myself at least awake by 8a on weekends. I fight the 7a alarm during the week, so its annoying when I wake up early and wonder why I can't fall back to sleep. Maybe weekends we know its our day to spend how we want, and laying in bed is not how we want to spend our time.

Sounds like you had a leisurely day. A mini-vacation to enjoy what makes you happy and fulfilled. Awesome. Hopefully you feel recharged and raring for the week, armed with good memories and a sense of contentment.

.......dhole

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Elliot, I'm so glad you had a memorable day. Blogger envied you so much they whited out your ending!!

My heart goes out to the thousands of Fathers who have lost children recently ... and for whom this day is a bitter mockery.

I am glad you had this day to revel in and be glad in the love of your family. I love the phrase "the sun's grin" for dawn! :-)

Megan Adamson said...

Loved this post, although I too couldn't read the ending.
Seems like you had a great day though. ;)

Elliot Grace said...

Hey Karen, thanks, it made for a great day ;)

Hey Dana, it definitely was!

Hey Susan, thanks, and yes it was ;)

Hey Lara, thanks!

Hey Donna, sleeping in was the original plan, but the way things worked out was just fine ;)

Hey Roland, so glad you liked the sun's grin quote...it's in my next story ;)

Hey Megan, yes, Blogger misbehaved once again. Thanks for stopping by and your thoughts ;)

El

Misha Gerrick said...

Yeah there's something special about being with one's dad on father's day. My brother and I flew across the country to see ours over father's day weekend. It was really special.

:-)

Carolyn V said...

Aw! What a great Father's Day! Thanks for sharing Elliot!

Elliot Grace said...

Hey Misha, I'm sure your father will forever cherish that special day. Thanks for stopping by ;)

Hey Carolyn, it made for a fun day ;)

El