Father's Day fun

Every year I think that my girls and I are going to do our best to make Hubby's Father's Day relaxing and fun. Since it's always on a Sunday, you can forget breakfast in bed, because a mom trying to get three girls and herself ready for church leaves barely a spare moment to give Daddy his cards, nonetheless a four- course breakfast in bed. So with no breakfast, we always make sure Hubby gets to choose where he wants to eat for lunch and then the rest of the day is his call. Whatever he wants; fishing, a nap, trip to the hardware store, etc. with no complaints from any of us.

Although most of his Father's Days over the years have been fun and somewhat relaxing, there have been a few doozies that weren't too great, but I think this year topped the charts in our house for Father's Day bombs! My morning before church was chaos, so left only 7.3 minutes for him to open his cards and present from the girls and I. I know for sure he loved his cards because I could see him holding back a few "man" tears while reading them , but when I brought up his 50-pound Father's Day gift, I knew his tears turned to confusion or disappointment.

I got him what I thought would be an awesome "man" gift for Father's Day. A 50 cc displacement 20-inch gas chain saw! Whoop, whoop! With a carrying case and all the fine fixin's. What handyman/outdoorsman wouldn't be thrilled to have a big, fat chainsaw to chop stuff up? Well, his reaction wasn't quite what I was expecting. What I THOUGHT he would say was along the lines of, "Oh good, I really needed one!" or "That's awesome! You're the coolest wife ever!" But no, his response, if I remember right, was, "Oh ... thank you," and that was it. No hugs, no smiles, no nothin! Oh well, maybe it's like giving a woman a vacuum cleaner??

Lucky for him, we had to leave for church so I was distracted enough not to worry about his lackluster reaction. After church and potluck, the girls asked him what he felt like doing on his special day. "What's it gonna be, Dad? Fishing, swimming at the pool, a trip out of town to the big box hardware store, spend the afternoon at the lake, or just stay home and take a nap?" He decided the lake "might" be fun and since it was so hot that day, we thought it'd be best to haul our dogs with us and let them cool off, too.

And that's when his Father's Day started to take a turn for the worse. After we stuffed his pickup full of greasy, sunscreened kids, bags of sand toys, oversized blowup tubes and mattresses, and of course, coolers of snacks, we were ready to head to the jam-packed beaches at the lake. Before we even made it out of the driveway I double checked that he'd picked up his annual park pass. Nope. Still needed that, oh, and needed gas too.

First we drove the liquor store to get a park pass and found out they no longer sell them, and would have to drive clear to Wally World to get that. He decided to get gas on the way out there, but pulled in only to find all the handles covered in grocery bags. Since no gas stations any farther west, we had to turn back east again only to find the first gas station still under construction. By this time, we've been driving around for almost a half hour and with that many blow-up toys and people smashed in one pickup, the air was starting to get a little thick. And, at almost 103 degrees outside, I'm sure our dogs tied up in the bed of the truck were getting a tad overheated.

Hubby's frustration was starting to build and in turn, out the window went his compliance to the traffic laws. His speed, by the time we found an open gas station clear on the other end of town, was exactly 12 miles over the allowed limit. I know it was exactly 12, because the kind officer that pulled him over informed us of that number.

Now I normally nag Hubby about driving too fast but since it was Father's Day and it was already turning out sour, I decided to keep my trap shut.

Guess I shoulda nagged. Anyway, I know he doesn't intentionally speed, just gets distracted or is just busy and has a mind full of a million things to do, and I was hoping the police officer would understand this.

However, would he also understand when Hubby couldn't find his registration, litter was flying out of the window as we frantically searched for the registration, the blow-up toys were blocking any view out of the rear window, the youngest child was in the front seat (probably illegally) and two overly large dogs were tangled and tied up in the back during one of the hottest days of the year??

Actually, yes, the gracious officer, whom I'm sure was also a father and hated that he was working instead of with his kids, did understand Hubby's frustration and, thank the Lord Jesus, gave him warning.

Finally off to the lake! NOW, his Father's Day would be better.

NOT! The lake was more packed than expected with what seemed just as many loose dogs as there were people. We had to park far away and so Hubby was at one tree-filled end of the beach with the dogs and the girls and I were at the other and that's basically how we spent his Father's Day afternoon, he with the dogs and the rest of us scattered about. We left without him swimming at all. No laughing and playing Frisbee. No sandcastles with his daughters. Just wrangling two, giant redneck dogs who wanted to fight every other dog there and a pickup full of sand and wet towels.

The poor guy's evening wasn't any better and was spent helping with the older girls' softball practice and having cold pizza at 9:30 at night. Wow! Does a Father's Day get any better than that! I decided that next year, were not doing anything! NO plans. Just a nap and maybe a movie.

I think Hubby's had enough Father's Day fun for awhile.