Jeff Blogs

We had kind of a strange summer. According to the family, that may be the biggest understatement of the year. Normally our summer consists of me going to every baseball game ever played and my family left to decide who has to go with dad to keep him out of trouble.

This year we had a much different set of plans. Oh sure there was still countless baseball games but we intermixed other activities as well. Trina and Whitney had girls camp and Dakota is now old enough to go to Boy Scout camp. We also had the occasional soccer tournament that we had to attend.

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Father’s Day is always an interesting day at our house. It has evolved a lot over the years of our marriage. It began as a simple day where things just kind of flowed. When the kids were really young we usually celebrated with a handmade card and perhaps breakfast together. As we collected more kids and they got older the celebration got a little bit larger and more involved. Trina would work with the kids to make sure to take each of them shopping and allow them to pick out something for their dad. This usually meant that I received a very eclectic series of presents ranging from stuffed animals to art supplies to colorful shirts. As the kids are now starting to get old enough to start leaving the house for school the holiday continues to evolve. Now I usually get an e-card along with a note saying that they are poor college students and if I could please send money they would be happy to send me something (assuming I send enough money since they had things to buy too). It’s not just about the gifts though.

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Now that Mother’s Day is over it is time to start focusing on the important holidays like Father’s Day. I don’t mean that mothers don’t deserve their own holiday I am all for it when a holiday is accompanied by cake. But Mother’s Day is such a girly holiday. It’s just not something guys can get their arms around. I mean Mother’s Day even messes up baseball when players start using pink bats. Who could take anyone seriously when they are swinging a pink bat? Newspaper ads start to feature cool things like barbeque grills, power tools, and beer goes on sale. Compare that to Mother’s Day when the ads are filled with dresses, picture frames, and floral arrangements. No, Father’s Day definitely kicks butt on Mother’s Day. At least that is what I thought until this morning.

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