Spring Is In The Air

I had the kids last weekend, and we were blessed with great weather for a change.  Hopefully all of that cold miserable snowy weather is behind us until next winter. 

We woke up early on Saturday morning to get to Aidan's basketball game by 8:00am.  Yes, 8:00am.  I know what you are thinking "who in the world schedules games that early"....you know what.......I was thinking the very same thing.  Wow, it's tough to get the boys up on a Saturday that early.   Lately though, it's gotten a bit easier.  I just lift Thunder up in their beds, and the wet dog kisses that follow do the job quicker than any other method I have tried.  Once they got up, we all had our wake up showers, a little breakfast, and off we went.

 Basketball was fun, and Aidan's team won in overtime for the second week in a row.  The boys are having a whole bunch of fun, and the team is 6-1 right now.  Pretty cool.

After basketball, we had just enough time to get home and get Christopher changed for his first soccer game of the season.  His team tied 2-2 but it was fun watching him play.  Christopher is growing taller and getting skinnier. Pretty much just the opposite of his dad.........grrrrrrr.   Anyway, you can sure tell the difference in his running this season.  He is much quicker, and no longer gets "catches" in his sides. 

After the soccer game, I had to rush to get Aidan to a birthday party.  The party was being held at a local paintball range.  The boys spent 3 hours decked out in full paintball regalia shooting restlessly at each other.  Aidan came home with 11 really nasty black and blue bruises all over his body, and a big smile on his face.  The boys had a blast. 

While Aidan was playing colorful warrior, Christopher and I hit up the local Popeye's Louisiana Chicken house.  It was Christopher's first time eating chicken on the bone, and he loved it.  After we left the restaurant, we came home and got into a heated game of saving the world in MARVEL Super Heroes Lego on Playstation. 

We had just enough time after Aidan's paintball excursion to get him changed into his baseball practice uniform, and get him over to baseball practice.  Whew, it was a long.....busy day. 

After baseball practice, we had dinner and then watched Despicable Me 2.  It was fun, and we had a great time.

Sunday we woke up a little later, and I made the boys pancakes.  After pancakes, we went to the lake to let Thunder frolic.  We all had fun.

After we left the lake, we stopped by a local water skiing park and watched to brave souls in the 55 degree water.  Some were pretty stinking good!

We spent the rest of the day playing around the house.  Everybody was plenty tired at bedtime, and Thunder was ready to crash with this buddy Christopher.

He is a cutie.

Friendship

I have many regrets in my life about a multitude of things.  The list is entirely too long for someone as young as I am, but that's life, and dwelling on those regrets is foolish.  There is one area in my life that is free from regret, and I have been more than blessed with my choices.  What is this area you ask?  Why friendship of course.

I have been lucky when it comes to friends.  I have been able to establish life long bonds with some of the most wonderful people you would ever want to meet.  Calling myself blessed is an understatement.

In the last year, I have probably relied on those friends more that necessary, but each and every time I needed help, eager volunteers were always just a phone call away.    I was always met with a simple "how can I help" without hesitation.   No man could ask for more.

I have made a point my entire life to keep the fires of friendship stoked, and keeping those bonds warm, active, and alive has always been on of my chief goals.  They say you can tell the quality of a man by the friends he chooses.  I really hope that's true, for it places me among the very elite.

About 4 years ago, I started a tradition of inviting good friends over on Super Bowl Sunday to celebrate the day with food and fun.  We start early in the morning, firing up the smoker, and seasoning 6 racks of the best pork baby back ribs on the planet.  This year was no exception, and many of my friends and their families helped continue this tradition at my new house. 

After seasoning the ribs and making a big pitcher of the best Bloody Mary's you ever tasted, we sit out by the smoker, and just enjoy each others company. 

This year we started about 9:30 in the morning.  Most years this would be done in the back yard, but inclement weather this year forced some changes.  I brought everything around to the front of the house, shielded from the North Wind, and we made good use of the garage.  While the smoker sat in the driveway outside in 14 degree temperatures under a canopy, we stayed in the garage enjoying each others company, as well as the toasty table top heater.

We drank Bloody Marys, played darts, possibly had had a cigar or two,  all while checking on the meat in the smoker every 30 minutes or so.  Because of the extra cold weather, my normal cooking time went from 4 1/2 hours to 6 1/2 hours.  This worked out perfectly, and the ribs were finished just in time to eat before kickoff.

Like I said earlier, it was wonderful to have so many of my friends and their families come by to spend the afternoon at my house.  The weather was awful, with freezing rain and a mix of snow to go along with the brutally cold temps.  They could have easily had a way "out", but all decided to make it anyway.  Like I said, I am blessed.

I wish the game would have been better, but I can assure you that everyone had a good time regardless.  I hope this tradition will continue for many years.

Later in the week, we were once again blessed (or cursed depending on how you look at it) with snow.  It was really cold, and most everyone I know was uncomfortable being outside.  Most, with one exception I should add............

Yep, you guessed it.........Thunder!   This was the first time that he saw snow, and wow did he have a good time.  It was hard to keep him inside.  He would just stand and whimper at the back door when I brought him inside.  I was afraid his young puppy paws would get frost bite.

Thunder is growing by the day, and I am so happy to have him.  He has really helped fill a void in my life, and I am grateful.  He is a full fledged puppy right now, so most of the time my carpet looks like this......

That's the remnants of the Star Wars Storm Trooper dog toy the boys picked out two days before.  I'm surprised it lasted two days to be honest.  He is one energy filled, sharp puppy teeth chewing machine.  It's easy to get upset with him, until he turns and gives you this look.....

Who could stay mad at that face for long?

William

All Good Things Must Come To An End

Lori's awful divorce was made official earlier today, and I am now a single dad.  Single.  Never in a million years would I (or anyone for that matter) have predicted that word would ever be applied to me again after March 14th, 1998. Everybody knew I was in our marriage it until my last breath, no matter what.

I will never in my lifetime understand what Lori was thinking, or why this happened.  A person is not supposed to change so drastically after spending 16 years so deeply in love.  It was certainly not right, and my confusion and pain will never go away.

It's a damn shame that the children and I will both have to carry this scar for our remaining lives.  I am lucky I guess, for my time left on earth is paltry compared to theirs.  I hate that they will wonder until their dying days how their lives would have been different if we would have remained together.  No, I don't believe for a minute it will possess them, but I do believe the thought will creep into their lives at various times to cast doubt.

Lori will tell you that her divorce has no bearing at all on how they grow up, but that's laughable.  Christopher and Aidan are both great kids, but to think they are ultimately better off being raised half the time by one or the other of their birth parents, is an exercise in justification.  It's simply not true.  Lori can tell you until her last breath that she made the right decision, but make no mistake, it was done for her and her alone, and unfortunately for the kids, short sighted and selfish. 

Me, well I will continue to live my life as I always have.  I cannot change who I am.....nor should I.

I believe Rudyard Kipling said it best:

“I always prefer to believe the best of everybody; it saves so much trouble” 

William