Day 1...

Both kids started school today. I lucked out and it was what I call my freaky Friday. I work a compressed work week of 9 hours every day so that I am able to take every other Friday off. In reality most of the time either work or personal family matters mess up my week much sooner than I am able to complete my total 80 hours for two weeks, so I usually end up either having to come in for a couple of hours, and sometimes the whole day. Not today, today was an official, by the book, freaky Friday for me.

Anxiety did it's job and when God knows what woke me up at 4:00 a.m., I was never able to get back to sleep. I hate it when this happens because I later find myself dragging my body all day long. Today was not so bad because I did not have to go to work. Instead, I finished doing some laundry and caught up paying some of my bills online. In no time at all it was already time to hit the shower and start the early morning school routine. By 6:00 a.m. I had already made breakfast for my oldest son that had apparently pulled off an all nighter in order to be able to meet with a friend in the morning and walk to the bus stop. This is a rare event, and just as precious as an Aztec Indian gazing at the wonder of a solar eclipse, I too gazed at my glary eyed son as he walked into the kitchen proclaiming he was starving. You too would be starving if you would of partaken of whatever funny smell was coming out of his room at bedtime. I knew something fishy was going on, but I also knew that if I came down strong as I tend to, the consequence would of been that neither one of us would of gotten any sleep in argument, and eventually he would of gone to bed at the exact same moment that he was supposed to go to school. I did what my heart told me not to do but my mind insisted on me doing, I pretended nothing was going on. Knowing that he had a friend coming over to drag him to school I made egg sandwiches for both of them, and some migraine avoidance coffee for me. All went well and the two young lads departed in haste surely trying to guarantee some prior boarding time to get a few puffs of their favorite brand of tobacco.

My other son did not have to be at school until an hour later so I sat for a few moments in contemplation of my definitely not boring life and drank my cup of java while debating what to do with the untouched egg sandwich that the guest refused to consume...I ate it. The other child woke up on his own and readily showed up to the kitchen wondering what smelled so good. I offered, he accepted, consumed, and was ready for school with half an hour to spare. I got the final dryer load out and folded killing time to take my promising scholar to his first day of 8th grade. The distance to his school is close enough to walk, but I like taking him whenever I am around just to spend a few more minutes with him. I really enjoy his company, mostly because he makes me feel like a normal dad, with a normal life, and a normal child. We have the route figured out so that when I drop him off he does not have to cross the street. This is not my anal behaviour, it is on his request because he says that some of the parents are terrible drivers and more than once he has felt like he might get hit. As I drop him off we exchange information relative to the good chance of me picking him up in the afternoon so that he does not have to go up the steep hill in the middle of what was predicted to be a 108 degree Fahrenheit day. We trade I love you's, and the boy exits the car while I stare for just a few seconds more and think of how good God has been to me by giving me this wonderful kid.

Now it's time to go back home and face the reality of what might of been happening the night before in my oldest son's room. No need to be a CSI to find all of the traces. I grab a garbage bag and start the task of cleaning up the mess that only took three days to evolve. Something here, something there...eventually I clear a path and remember that today is the day I should take advantage of and remove the glass window that one of his friends broke while eagerly trying to wake him up a few days back. Typically I do a sniff test of some of the garments scattered around the room to determine which one needs washing and which one is just parked there because of laziness. Not today, I figure my senses have already taken a beating with what the entire room smells like and decide to simply wash it all.

Window pane removed, I search through the previously entered GPS Navigator addresses on my phone and find the glass repair place I had used just a few months earlier to repair another broken window and find it. This place has two things going for it, price and a cute receptionist. Load in washer I lock up the house and depart to take the broken window to its glass doctor. This time I am there too early so the owner, an old man with what I recognize as an Army Airborne tattoo is kind enough to get me going on my fix job. He seems to see some of my pain, I must be obvious this early in the morning, and one of the first things out of his mouth is "I have seven." I laugh and he laughs too. We both know that what he is referring to is the number of times we decided to forgo the use of contraception and accept the lottery of conception. The older man is so eager to share with me that he drops the order paperwork on the counter and simply starts to talk. "Yep, they never leave...one of my boys left for a year, now he is back...the other left for two, back too...my youngest daughter got married and it never occurred to her to find a place of their own, no, they both moved in with us...I should of never built such a big house!" Said the man without even asking me how many I had of my own. "What they need to do is join the Army...that will make a man out of anyone" he said, and continued to share more of his military career.

As much as it sometimes seem like it, I am not alone. The drama that once seemed so unique and complicated, now starts to reveal itself as simply chapters in my book, but there are so many more books out there. If so many people have gone through so much hardship while raising their children, then why is it that I find so little information on how to fix the damn problems in the first place? Maybe now, today is the time to get it done. Technology is finally reachable to many of us so that we are able to share our lessons. I am sure you already have figured this out, I am very willing to share for the sake of knowledge and enlightenment.

I do as promised and park in the swelling heat for at least ten minutes waiting for my youngest son to get out and saving him from the torture of dragging his skinny butt all the way home. You can tell as he boards the Dad mobile that he is tired, but happy. He says that all of his teachers are great and that if only he could make a change to his schedule to switch P.E. from 2nd to 6th period, then life would be perfect. As we drive home I make pizza promises to his hungry teenage tummy and he happily accepts the offer.

Less than ten minutes after we arrive at home my oldest son calls with a Taxi request. He has been hanging with a few friends close to the supermarket and was hoping I was home and would pick them up and spare them the uphill walk home. This is one of the easy requests to fulfill, so I grab my keys and drive down the street to pick up my fare. "Do you mind if we go into the supermarket and get something cold to drink first?" asked my son while surprising me by not asking for money. Ten minutes later the four future leaders of our country exit the establishment and board my vehicle. One after the other each complained at what a drag it was to have to go back to school again. By the time we arrived at my driveway, the consensus was that everyone at school, with the exception of them four, is an idiot. Teachers are dumb, other students are dumb, specially anyone that might show a sign of wanting to learn something, and in fact all of society is dumb because there is no good reason for anybody to waste their time going to school! Awe!!! How quickly they have all become the smartest young men alive!

Yes my dear readers, I sit here in awe wondering why I wasted so much money going to college, when in fact all I needed to know to be successful I could of learned from the three teenage young men that eagerly accepted my free offer for transportation in my hard earned money purchased vehicle. As hard as I try, I don't remember ever being this dumb. Ignorance is bliss, and as far as I can tell, these three are blisser (if that is a word) than the average bear.

I just wanted to share with you what Day 1 was like today. Relatively speaking, you need to believe me when I tell you that this was a wonderful day. I laughed as I typed those words because I am not being sarcastic, not really. I laughed because it really was a great day. Nobody got kicked out of school, nobody is suspended, and yes, you might of guessed it too, tonight, because it is Friday and there is no school tomorrow, I will sleep like a baby!

Dad