Imagine, Me a Father!

It might be hard for many of my closest friends, and especially family members, to even fathom the notion of me being a dad; but nevertheless, in only a matter of months that is exactly what I will be.

It seems that only a few years ago I was tied up in a sleeping bag and left on a random porch by some of my friends, only to await the answer of the door and hope that in their confusion and curiosity, kindness would find its way out of their hearts and they would release me from the bonds of the "Moby Dick" sleeping bag I found myself in. Upon my release, I was instructed that the only words I could utter would be, "Thank you, it was hot in there!" and of course, "See you later."

This always proved to provide countless hours of, not only entertainment for an evening of mischevious fun, but many other entertaining hours of fond reminisence years later.

I wasn't always the "goat", so to speak, that ended up the brunt of all the jokes. We all took our turns. But, these weren't childhood games. These "bets" as we called them, whether they be the sleeping bag prank, standing on the doorstep and imitating a gorilla, chewbaca, or a mime; running through the house without even knocking --screaming "aliens" at the top of our lungs; or using the fart machine in crowded and very public areas, were just some of the many ideas of fun we had not only in our teenage years, but well into our twenties also.

Now the majority of us are married and are fathers, or fathers to be. Have we grown up? Are we ready for parenthood? My answer... Why not? Sure we may act juvenille at times and our definition of fun might be very similar to everyone else's definition of immature, but who says that, when kids come, you have to be serious all the time and fun is out of the question?

I for one am a little nervous, but very excited to be a daddy. There are so many things I can't wait to do, teach, and enjoy with my boy! I can't wait to read him stories before bed, play him songs on the guitar, play catch in the yard, go to ball games, eat watermelon and spit the seeds at each other. I can't wait to watch him take his first steps, say his first words, disobey his mother or me and deserve a spank, go to his first day of kindergarten, tie a blanket around his neck and pretend it's a cape, or even come crying to our bed and wake us up because of a nightmare.

I don't doubt one bit that it will be difficult at times or a change of pace from what I am used to, but it will be great and something I cherish forever. I realize I will have to grow-up a bit, but I can still have fun and enjoy life in a semi-immature fashion. Who knows, maybe my son will enjoy being the one tied up in the sleeping bag too!

"My love for a great read and story allows me to over look the occasional gramatical error that might occur. But, then again... I am attractive!"
-The lady with the flag

The World Cup? That must be a big cup!

Well, It is world cup time again. If you are anything like me, this means absolutlely nothing. In fact, you might hear a conversation like this from me, or someone like me, to myself, or someone like myself:

"Oh yeah, World Cup...that's soccer right, I mean phoot-bowl? Well great, but doesn't that happen every year?"
"It turns out that world cup is played every four years dummy, and every four years I find myself paying just as much attention as the year before."
" Hey wait, didn't I just say it was played every four years, though? Then what do you mean you pay just as much attention as the year before?
"Yep, you got it. It was a snide, highly sarcastic, and possibly insulting remark."
"...But I am you, your having a conversation with yourself, me!"

I'd better stop there before I drive myself crazy and get in a fight.

The oddity of it all is that I played soccer as a child growing up, and if I remember right, I think I enjoyed it. So let's analyze this a second. Let us break it down. Dig through the cushions of life and see what kind of change, food crumbs, and random objects we can find to make sense of it all.

When I was a kid I enjoyed playing soccer. I also enjoyed throwing rocks at girls I liked on the playground, digging deep holes, collecting toe nail clippings, playing the 'track and field' game on regular Nintendo, signaling with a pumping motion of my arm for semi-trucks to blow their horns, and trying to grab on to the back bumper of moving vehicles while on my skateboard --in an attempt to have it pull me like Marty on Back to the Future. So, as you can clearly tell, as a kid, I knew what fun was.

Now that I am older and unmistakeably wiser, I look back and realize that soccer was an outlet for me to run around as much as I like, make myself silly, and not get in trouble for it. On the other hand, Soccer was an outlet for my mom to let me run around in a field, (instead of the house) burn some of my inexhaustable energy, and relieve her from going silly. It was a win win situation.

Then I broke my leg. It was devistating to my soccer career and devistating to my mom who all of the sudden had an overly energetic kid, immobilized, and doing his best to keep her entertained while stuck at home. All right, relax, take a deep breath, it will only be for about three months. Oops, I broke my leg again right after I got my cast off. It was devistating to my...yadda yadda yadda...! Now my parents were in need of finding a new energy-releasing outlet for me. So, they opt to convince me that another sport will be even better. "For our sake and for the sake of your obviously frail bones, let's try baseball!"

So here I am, older, wiser, and not living at home. I realize soccer isn't the fastest moving sport, there isn't as much money in it, (which is so important) and World cup is captivating almost the whole world every four years. So what am I going to do different this World Cup year? Probably just write about it in this blog! Other than that I will just go about life normally and four years from now say, "Wow, World Cup again...didn't their moms just send them out to run around last year?"

Introduction: My Reasons, Rhymes, and Negotiations

On several occasions it has been brought to my attention, whether by my own realization or by a kind and thoughtful "over-observer" that in social settings (parties, get togethers, functions, etc...) I tend to carry the majority of the "talking weight" in a conversation. Not that this information bothers me to any real or upsetting extent, it has just made me conscious of how much I usually have to say regarding any given subject.

Hence, the creation of this blog. Finally I have an outlet to discuss, write, or quote any subject worthy of my time to talk about and my fingers to type about. So sit back, make yourself comfortable behind your screen and in your most likely uncomfortable chair and enjoy; and please, if given the opportunity...feel free to comment. So, agree, disagree, tell me I'm nuts and way off base...whatever, all I ask is that you please keep it clean. This is after all a family show.