Deep in thought…..

My mind goes back to a day in December some 21+ years ago. A few short days before Christmas when a chubby little blond entered my life. Yes at one time she was a bit chubby. Rolls of skin defined her short legs. And the blue eyes smiled from the first. All this and more in a tiny little package.

Her hair today is not as blond. She really can’t be called chubby anymore. But the eyes can still smile.

I remember the day she found her first frog. We live in the woods, so it isn’t very hard. When she learned to read, she found out as much as she could about the little animals. To this day she is drawn to them.

There were days playing in the mud, while wearing her sister’s clothes. Days playing softball while dad coached from the sidelines.

Days being a child, days being a young lady. Days of very little care and days of hardship.

There was Star Wars both movies and books. There was friends, sisters, pets and family. We had shared a time or two on stage. She sang, I listened. There were the clothes from the boys section, there were beautiful dresses.

All of this and more. 21 years don’t fit in a few short paragraphs. My beautiful blue eyed girl has spent years growing up. And I am proud of her….

In some ways I can’t believe my third daughter will be getting married this weekend. I’m still in a bit of shock when I think of my older daughters being married. Is this the way of it for fathers?

My only job is to walk my daughter down the aisle. Maybe a dance or more. One never knows with daughters.

I wasn’t ready to handle my daughters getting married. I was even less ready being a widower. 3 weddings in just over 3 years, the emotions don’t get easier.

Hopefully the youngest won’t get married in the next year. I’m not sure I can handle 4 weddings in 4 years. I know she doesn’t have a boyfriend yet, but stranger things have happened. I think it runs in the family.

This wedding is a little different than the last two. It starts inside for the wedding and moves outside for the reception. The last two weddings were outside and moved inside for the reception. Having any part of a wedding outside was new to me. When I got married it was below zero all day. You get that in January. I guess that’s why my daughters have spring/summer weddings.

We had birds, chipmunks, squirrels, alligators at the other two weddings, I wonder what kind of wildlife will show up for this one.

Weather looks good for Saturday. Will my daughters be 3 for 3 on good weather? I certainly hope so.

It will be the first time that all 4 daughters have been together since the last wedding. Great times. I really enjoy my family.

More later???

Derek (another Tangents’ Blogger), posed the question “Who wants to be a superhero?” in his blog. My first thought was about the Saturday evenings I spend with my oldest daughter, her husband, and a few friends. For the past few months, we spend Saturday being superheroes. A fun little role playing game based on Marvel Comic book characters and settings. Yes, there are mutants, armored, magical, or insect-bitten superheroes running (flying) all over the place.

Our game master has a wonderful gift in the design of the stories/settings the players face. We designed our superheroes and try to bring them to life during our Saturday games. Now as with most groups like this, sometimes the game gets set aside for a while and we have idle talk about this or that. I’m not sure if she knows it or not, but my eldest invited her dear old dad into part of her life she wasn’t expecting. On Saturdays, I am not only her father, but I am a friend of her friends. By extension, that does make me my daughter’s friend.

Hmm. I think that is a place any father would want to be. She still calls me and talks to me about her troubles. In her eyes, I can still make things better with a hug or the right words. By any other name, I am still her Daddy. And she is still my darling girl. During the past few months our relationship grew. I am more than her Father and maybe a better Father. Maybe I am a superhero in my own life? And by all counts, I will be an important factor in the life of my soon to be grandchild.

Who would have though of that 25+ years ago….

My dear daughters again gave me a 1-2 punch. This was when my oldest got married and my second youngest graduated from High School. My Second youngest is getting married in 2 weeks and my youngest graduated high school today. So, as a family we are halfway there. It has been an interesting 3 years. I was actually reminded today that it is a 1-2-3 punch since both this year and in 2006 I had daughters graduating from the community college. Since they got early graduation gifts for college (they both ‘needed’ laptops), they didn’t really want to do much for the college graduations. I’m grateful for that, but I should recognize that they both got their degrees.

Well the graduation portion of this is finished except for a party or two. It is interesting how the students stagger their parties from weekend to weekend.

The graduation was the easy event of the year. My youngest was able to give a short speech as one of 4 students with perfect 4.0 grade points. That is out of less than 100 young adults. (Yes, this is a small rural school.) It was interesting to hear what the students found to be important in their 4 years of high school. It is also interesting as an adult to realize that what they think is important now may not remain that way in the coming years. They get to experience a greater freedom and less free time as they grow into the adult world.

So here are my best wishes to all the graduates of 2009.

One final thought, the wedding dress is finished. That is a full 2 weeks before the wedding day.

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to see my daughter in her wedding gown. The gown was not quite finished, but she was very beautiful in it. As a father, I am slightly biased when it comes to how beautiful I think my daughter is, but I’m sure most will agree when they see her on her wedding day.

The exceptional part of this, is that the gown is being made by my oldest daughter. We all like to tease her on how long it takes her to finish this project or that project, but we don’t usually complain about the work done. The gown looks to be almost a work of art. I’ll know more when it is finished.

Well this is the third wedding out of four daughters. I do hope the youngest waits a few years (more than 2+). My oldest and her husband are celebrating their 3rd anniversary tomorrow, so in just over a 3 year span, I’ve been or will be the father of 3 brides. I’m wondering if they can think of any other way to torment me. 😉

Count down in earnest.

and results.

My 2nd daughter lives in Florida and is trying to make it to Ohio for her sister’s wedding. The cost of round trip tickets have gone up recently. She called today to see if she could get a little assistance from me for the tickets. Well, we started talking about the ticket prices she found, and layovers here or there. Found out that the major cost of the tickets was always the return flight to Florida.

So I realize it may cost a bit more, but I offered to drive her back down to Fla. This way I get to spend more time with my daughter and I get to see my son-in-law. He can’t make it to the wedding since he just started a new job and does not have any time off accumulated yet. 2 birds, 1 stone. I like that.

Now there are a few hickups in the plan. I was planning on going with some friends to a Cubs/Tigers game. No can do. I’ll be on my way to Florida. Sorry Taylhis and Admin… I will be spending a bit of cash to get the truck ready to go to Florida. I’m thinking I will need at least the a pair of tires. The front tires are in need of replacement. Not bad for driving short distances, but I’m not sure I would trust them for 8 to 12 hours of non-stop driving. Then of course there are the general problems with taking care of the animals while we are gone, but I’ve worked that out before.

I’m really looking forward to getting some time with the Florida family. Can’t wait. I don’t even have to schedule any extra vacation, it is already taken care of for the wedding.

More plans and things to do, but that is the fun of life…. Right?

Well, I guess I haven’t really been that far away but it sometimes seems that way. I’ve done nothing as energetic as pulling carpet and painting. I haven’t tried out for any musicals (never will). I’ve just been dealing with daughters. Daughter getting married, daughter in her senior year, just being a dad.

I did take some time off to be with friends. A little help here (have truck will haul part 3 😉 ), a little help there (moral support during tryouts), and that was that.

I really didn’t have much to say or blog about. Except for two movies I was able to see. I may do some full write-ups later. Full of spoiler alerts.

First bridal shower for 3rd daughter seemed to go off without a hitch. I dropped off some food, and the youngest daughter, and then made my self scarce for a few hours. I was going to spend some time with my son-in-law, but since he had to work, I spent the afternoon with my father-in-law. S’s parents are good people, and they’ve kept me as part of their family. Another one of those ‘family we choose’ situations. Sometimes we get lucky.

Kind of a double content post.

My youngest made it back from her competition in Myrtle Beach. A superior rating was given to the dance choir. They scored 95 out of 100 in the competition. I will need to wait until tomorrow to get more information, it seems the trip tired someone out.

The other thing, one of my ‘other’ favorite teams (anyone playing the Yankees — Sorry Jamiahsh) had a player steal home. A rare feat in baseball. A matter of timing, skill, and a bit of luck. Not done too often now. Major league record holder for most swipes of home was a former Tiger, Ty Cobb. Just for Jamiahsh, Lou Gehrig is on the home steal list with 15 and even Babe Ruth had 10. No it isn’t something that happens very often. More pitchers staying in the stretch when there is a man on third. Managers not wanting this to happen. Ball players a bit more cautious. Any and maybe all of those things contribute.

I’m trying to find the active player with the most steals of home, but it is hard to find. I’ll keep looking.

By the way, I didn’t mention Ty Cobb stole home 54 times. 50 times for the Detroit Tigers and 4 for the Philadelphia Athletics.

My youngest is on her way to a show choir competition. That in itself is enough to make a parent worry a bit. She will be spending this evening on a bus, and arrive at the destination tomorrow afternoon. That is also enough to make a parent worry.

But she is heading south and east to South Carolina and the Myrtle Beach area. Has anyone seen the news about that area? Unfortunately, I have. If you haven’t I will share.

FIRES in South Carolina.

Can a just say that this is really something to worry about. My youngest is always getting herself in this situation. When she was in the 8th grade she went to a Vet Camp. There was news that a Black Bear was roaming around in that area. Hmmm.

She decided to go to a specific college. There was a dorm fire in the dorms she was going to be living in. The students in the fire were in the same area of study she wants to go into. Hmmm.

Does bad luck follow my little girl all over the place, or is this just some weird set of coincidence.

I’m guessing the latter. It helps keep me sane.

Today, I didn’t forget to help at the theater. Yesterday I did. Time slipped away from me. I would like to say prior commitments prevented me, but I was back in time to help out. I just forgot. Time passed me by.

Now I look at the clock and see it well past time to get some sleep. But I was working on some video editing and sleep won’t come.

Life is all about change. And my life is changing. Time ticks down the events of my life and the life of my friends and family. My family is growing again. For those who don’t know, I ‘adopt’ each of my daughters’ husbands. They are my sons. The good part about this is that they are grown sons, and I don’t have to ‘raise’ them. As long as they treat my daughters with respect, I will treat them as one of my family. Some may say this is an honor, it could also be a curse. Talk to my daughters sometime. I expect a lot from them, and have rarely been disappointed. I’ve always felt that they have made their ways in life because of what was expected of them. I always wanted them to give their best effort in the things they do. Never perfection (that is almost unattainable, until you inherit it. 😉 family joke), but to give their best. I now expect that from my sons (and the ‘future’ son). That way I can expect the ‘best’ for their growing families.

Time, it slips by and things change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Life is what you can make it, or so I’ve been told. Time slips by, and things stay they same.