Daddy's Fish BowlA Clear View Of A Father's Family Experiences

Welcome Home

So yesterday was a true testament to why I love my family.  A lot of people ask me: “Keith, how do you remain so enthused about being a family man?”  The answer is quite simple when you have a great family & are willing to push the negatives that come along with having a family out of your mind.  Yesterday, I was having a hard time pushing those negative thoughts out of my mind. Not negative ideas about my family (they hadn’t done anything to piss me off yet), but negative ideas about life in general.  Well they all flew out the window the minute I walked thru that door (actually before I walked thru, I’ll explain later) & saw their faces.

Let me start at the beginning, yesterday started off pretty normal just like any other day.  But that quickly changed.  I set out for my morning commute, (which I hate by the way) only to encounter an accident on the highway.  Now this wasn’t your massive Hollywood 10 car pile up accident, no it was a simple fender bender between 2 cars. They were on the side of the road & being serviced by a police officer.  The cars weren’t obstructing anyone’s lane of travel & there was no major damage to witness.   So why in the hell did I find my car moving a whopping 10mph in a 65mph zone?  I’ll tell you why, it’s because people are nosey & that pisses me off.  I swear, people see flashing lights on the road and act like children at a laser light show, just can’t take their eyes off.  I’m sorry; the memory resurfaced & got me angry all over again.  Give me a minute here,  recall memory of loving family, ah okay, see just like that I’m back to being your cheerful resident Daddy blogger.

When I finally get to work, I’m later than usual so all the parking spots on my normal level of the parking deck were gone.  No big deal, but in the grand scheme of things when reliving a bad day, every little tidbit weighs a ton.  Once I get in the office, I’m shocked to find someone in there with a pen & pad taking notes about my office.  I think to myself, “is this guy the resident office inspector”?  “Am I going to get fined for keeping a junky work space”?  Oh how wrong I was, this guy was here to tell me that I’d be sharing my office very shortly.  Hold on a minute; let me get this straight, I get a promotion only to have you decrease my office space a few months later?  To be fair, I currently have a corner office meant for 3 people in which I have been occupying by my lonesome for the past 2 yrs.  The people that get this type of office are many tiers above my pay grade, so I am grateful for the opportunity to experience the good life.  But come on, that’s not the type of news I wanna hear after a long unnecessary drive into work.  It would have clearly been better received if delivered after lunch.

I push it all to the back of my mind & start my work day, thing go pretty well for the most part, except the fact that I’m swamped with about a million projects and people are constantly calling asking me to do a million more things.  On a typical day, hey that’s life, but today I just wasn’t in the mood.  I take it all in stride as I notice my To Do list actually growing instead of shrinking for the day.  I’m normally a pretty cool, calm, & collective guy, but this next phone call threw all 3 of those C’s out the window.

A co-worker calls to inform me that a project I was working on & had previously presumed completed was actually still open due to the fact that he misinformed me about one of the steps being unnecessary.  So basically, I project which was due on Friday, one that I thought I would receive kudos for completing early, is actually in danger of now being late? And it’s your fault? Oh man, I was so close to hanging up on this guy, until I looked up & glanced at a picture of my little man.  That pic stopped me from making a horrible, yet well deserved mistake. Thanks Tre!!!

Now fuming, I get working on that extra long To Do list.  I decide that everything won’t get done but I’ll be sure to finish the important items.  I should of just said screw it because due to several setbacks & interruptions I didn’t finish up until late. This meant traffic was going to be horrible, and then I look out the window & notice that it’s raining.  Now “horrible” isn’t a strong enough word to describe the traffic I will encounter.  No, it will no longer be horrible, it’ll be horrendous.  Yeah that about sums it up.

As I leave, totally bummed about the activities that have transpired today, all I can think about is when I get home, I’m going straight to bed.  On my super extended drive home, Fefe texts me SEVERAL times asking when I’m coming home, how much longer, etc.  All I could think is, nagging was the last thing I need right now.  When I finally arrived home, that thought definitely had me feeling like a butt!  As I walked to the door, I noticed a note taped to it which read: “Come inside and change clothes, comfortable clothes are waiting in the bathroom for you.  Put your slippers on, have a seat and relax”.  When I walk in the house, it is completely quiet, no idea how she was able to pull this off with having to deal with both “Loud Mouth Tre” & “Talks A Lot Ty”.  After changing clothes and sitting down, my entire family (yes the dog included) runs from the kitchen bearing signs and screaming “Welcome Home”.  Ty & Tre did their best Happy Feet dance impression & I was greeting with many hugs & kisses.

This is the type of greeting you would expect for someone who’s been fighting in Iraq the past few years, or someone who has just come home from the hospital.  But no, this is what my family put together for me after just a simple, albeit long day at the office.  They had no prior knowledge of how horrible my day had been, it was just something that they felt I deserved for being a good Dad.  Even though I’ve expressed how much it meant to me, I don’t think they’ll ever truly know how their simple act totally turned my mood around.  From now on when people ask me, what’s so great about being a Dad? Or why I enjoy it so much?  This story will be my answer.

Today is Thursday so be sure to check out Tre’s Thursday Toy Review

Fefe & Tre's Sign

Ty's Sign - Look at my beard