Happy Birthday Little Papi

Happy Number Six Big Guy!

Summer's Over?

Hey. Just sitting here watching the kids play. I am looking through the window, watching the kids play in the carport. David has an elaborate set-up of train track and Matchbox cars laid out through the carport. It's turning dark, but the kids don't want to come in. David will look up, see if I am still watching him, protecting him, and give me "shaka" sign. He's got a great smile. David is a really handsome boy. I wonder all the time about what kind of parents we are to him. He has so much potential. I wonder if we are worthy.

Summer is almost over. I have to admit: It really hasn't been a "Spectacular" summer. David will start school again in a week. I wonder what he will tell his teacher and his friends about this summer...

We are still battling back after being unemployed for almost six months. We’ve moved and feel pretty settled already in the new house. Still stuff to hang on the walls, but the kids room looks like we’ve lived through a few hurricane seasons already. The kids have spent a lot of time at home, just spending a lot of time at home. The kids have watched way too much TV. The kids have eaten way too many Pizza Rolls and Chicken Nuggets and Mommy Chips.

But, yes, they've read, they've colored. They've been to the beach. They've ridden their bikes. They've yelled. They've laughed. They've gotten booboos and they've gotten hugs. They've even given hugs.

They've pretended to be cats and jaguars and cheetahs. They've barked like dogs and acted like aliens. They've played pirates in the kiddy pool and ran from alligators under their beds.

I get worried thinking David has spent more time in Daycare and in Spongebob Pajamas than involved with something constructive and educational with his parents...

I wonder if other kids in his class will tell similar stories.

When I’ll look back on this summer, I’ll also have to think of Matthew. The Matthew who won't sleep in his bed.

Dadman pretty much slept on the couch this summer with a two-year-old tucked into an armpit. He became my Sportscenter Buddy from 4:30am - 6am.

We also have George. A neighborhood cat, George, has adopted us. He’s cute. But it is not so much a good thing. He is constantly trying to get into the house and clean his missing balls on our bedroom pillow.

Recently, I got a call from a good friend in Connecticut. I told him how good life is - the kids are good, M is good, my job is good... I feel really lucky. I sincerely do.

"When was the last time you hit a golf ball?" ummmm....

"When was the last time you played Frisbee Golf?" ummmm...

"Did you really sell your kayak?" ummmm...

"When was the last time you and M went on a date?" ummmm...

"How's Josh?" ummmm...

Damn. My life does suck, doesn’t it?!


And yet, I smell supper cooking. The lawn is mowed. M just handed me a cold beer. I will be grilling a couple of steaks in a few minutes. I look up and I see Matthew with his big ol' brown eye balls. I’m watching David recreate the I-95 and I-295 interchange with railroad track and Matchbox cars...(looks like a large pile-up blocking all lanes – better give yourself plenty of time)

And I smile....

I take a deep breath. There is so much that I would change about my life in the past, but... but yet something allows me to smile... I wouldn’t change a single thing about this moment, this snapshot right now. I feel really lucky. I sincerely do.


What will next summer be like? What stories can David tell at the end of next summer?

Are you already thinking about it, like I am?



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Wish You Were Closer

My sister mentioned me by name in her blog today. She created this plaque for me. I am hoping the polka-dots do not represent a close-up of me wearing a Speed-O.

She says this plaque is for me. And I know just where to put it.

On the table with a picture of Me and M on our wedding day. With a picture of Jax Beach in the Forties. With a picture of Me and Josh on Cape Cod. With a picture of me and Ruby. More framed pics of Family. A Red Sox coaster. A candle. A welded frisbee-playing artform.

With a seashell filled lamp on a wicker table, next to a wicker chair. With books about gardening and the Joy of Nature....

I think it's an ideal spot. It is a comfortable spot for me.

I would put it among a bunch of stuff we'd probably talk about when we finally got to sit under that umberella on the beach and share all the stuff we've experienced from worlds away..... from years away...

Think about this --- If or when you have the chance to sit with your sister or brother under an umbrella on the beach, with a wide open ocean before you ... what would you talk about.... ?

Pretty cool question, huh?

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I wish you were closer too....

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Another Couple of Snippets

For three days, every bathtime , all I heard was, "Hey, have you seen David and Matthew's shark?" Everytime the boys got in the kiddie-pool, "Hey have you seen David and Matthew's shark?" Evidentally, a pretty special rubber shark has been missing...

...Until when I pulled up in the driveway today and looked up...

"Son, You've got a shark in that thar tree!"

Another quick snippet...

I'm in the shower.
I hear a crash.
I hear a two-year-old start to cry, then decide to turn blue until I get there with a hug.
Except I am in the shower, shampoo in hair, and more problematic, shampoo in my eyes.
"David?" I yell.
"Um, Dad?" He yells back.
"Can you give Matthew a hug? What was that crash?"
I've already turned the shower off in case you are taking notes, but my eyes are still totally burning, and I can't see a thing.
"Um, Dad?" I hear again.
I'm pretty impatient in the mornings, but in this particular instance, I do understand the fact that I am nude.
"Yhhesssssss?"....... I say rather impatiently. Under my breath you may have also heard, "Jesus Mother of Mary fricken God My Holy Savior Forgive Me For Saying Your All's Names In Vain but , give him a fricken hug, I will be out in a minute!"

David says something that sounds like,"Matthew's blue." Which actually doesn't alarm me because sometimes he will indeed, try to catch his breath and appear blue - but its not as scary as you might think after the 233rd time.
"Give him a hug! I'll be right out!"

"No - Dad! Matthew's got blood! Matthew's got a lot of blood!"

I nearly wrapped myself in the shower curtain and fell down I flew out of that shower so fast.

David and Matthew were two monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell down and the other one ran into the other room and whimpered like a little donkey girl scout. Matthew had fallen off the bed, bounced off the clock radio before hitting the floor face first.... David ran into the living room and started to watch Handy Manny until I called him back in.

Matthew split both his upper lip and his lower lip and bled like a diabetic pig.

I was almost late for work that morning too...

click...