Staycation all I ever wanted (HOL 99)

House of Laughter 99

The two most important, rewarding, and frustrating roles in my life are that of husband and father. Unlike many other professions, my job doesn’t bleed over into my private life very often. (Rarely do I use a change in transmitted acousitc energy to diagnose changes in fluid dynamics when I’m home, unless I hear the toilet running long after a flush.)

Whenever Isaac and Nancy go to Florida in the summer, I ask myself an intimidating question, “Who am I when I am not a father or husband?” I find it intimidating because there were only about 6 months of my life between the time I was living with my parents and the time I was married. My assumption is that left to my own devices, I would be the living embodiment of “Comic Book Guy” from the Simpsons.

It took about two days to become tired of Tombstone pizza and video games. I was surprised that I never went out to eat or to the movies by myself. I didn’t play nearly as much X-box or Wii as I thought I would. I exercised slightly more than I thought I would (none). After destroying our second hand elliptical machine, I did take a number of long walks in addition to the weekly game of ultimate Frisbee. I joined a great three hour game of pool volleyball which I both enjoyed and didn’t suck at….a rarity in my athletic career. Life was a lot more spontaneous. I went and saw several movies with friends (Hurt Locker, Bruno, and Raising Arizona). I had lunch at Indian Restaurant with folks I normally don’t hang out with, and enjoyed dollar taco night with the Olsons. I went to a Sunday night concert with a mix of friends from church. I also got to re-connect with a family that I hadn’t seen in years when they spent the night at our place on their way through Greensboro to the beach.

I had a busy and rewarding week, but at the same time I really missed Isaac and Nancy especially when they had a birthday party for the boy down in Florida. I mentally went through the logistics of driving to Florida to surprise them, but ultimately knew it would not have been worth the expense and hassle.

They arrived home on Saturday and we spent the week doing all of the fun things a family intends to do, but never get around to. We went to Carowinds where Isaac and I rode the wooden “Fairly Odd Coaster” on the front row (Afterwards he said it was his favorite, but he only liked the little hills.) We also rode the Scooby Doo Haunted mansion about 6 times. The big thrill for the day though was the water park.

Isaac would not ride any of the slides the week before at Wild Waters in Florida. I used Daddy magic to work up his courage to ride the “Platypus plunge”, and after one trip down the water slide, he was hooked. Nancy and I sat in chairs and watched him get in line by himself, wait his turn, slide to the bottom and run right back around and get in line again.

On his birthday, we opened his presents first thing in the morning and then our friend Gabe took us to a day baseball game (When the thermometer reads higher than the speed gun for the pitches…..you know it is hot.) Isaac was disappointed that we didn’t have all of his friends over for his birthday, so we invited over a handful of his grown up friends for cake that night.

One afternoon of our “Staycation” we all bought white shirts at Goodwill and took them home to Tie Dye them. There is a reason they provide gloves with tie dye kits. My hands looked like I had strangled the Joker. Isaac was actually scared of my hands and run away screaming whenever he could see my rainbow colored palms.

At the end of the week, we went down to the Lazy 5 ranch near Charlotte. It is a large farm where you can drive through an enormous open area filled with deer, sheep, cattle, pigs, zebras, rhinos, giraffes, emu, ostriches, and dozens of other friendly ungulates that will stick their head into your car window, eat goat chow out of a bucket on your wife’s lap, slobber all over everything, and then chase your car while you gasp for air laughing hysterically and try to capture the look of terror and disgust on your wife’s face with the digital camera. Yeah it was that awesome.

Life is getting back to normal. Schools are starting, and instead of mourning the end of summer I’m trying to look forward to the cool things that come with fall. Halloween, Corn Mazes, colorful leaves, last minute weekend trips to coaster parks before they close for the season, and the inevitable mad rush which is Our anniversary, Nancy’s birthday, My birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, and the whirlwind trips to Florida that come with the season. Time flies like an arrow….Fruit flies like a banana.

Strength and Honor

Big Matt