Happy Fathers Day

Today started off like no other. It was 7:15 and I was awoken to the sound of the screeching smoke alarm. I was instantly awake, although not fully conscious. I threw off the covers and leapt from the bed in one move, arriving to a smoke filled kitchen and living room. Darling son had decided to cook himself some Oodles of Noodles for breakfast. No problem. Just boil the water, add the noodles and go back in his room and forget about it. The water boils out of the pan and the noodles start burning, leave it long enough and you've got enough smoke to set off the alarm. Done.

I was very disoriented when I entered the kitchen. It took me a moment to grasp what was happening. My brain had not yet started to fully function, at least I had enough sense to remove the pan and turn off the burner, then I went to try and disarm the alarm. It stopped sounding briefly but then started wailing again, both the main alarm and the hallway. Then my cell phone started ringing. It was the alarm company..."Yes, I know the smoke alarm is going off....Yes, I tried to shut it off, but the house is filled with smoke from a pan burning on the stove so it keeps reactivating...No, no need to call the fire department.....My password? Lemme think......" It took me a minute to gather my wits. Once the alarm company was satisfied the house wasn't burning down, I turned my attention to getting rid of the smoke.

The ceiling fan went on high and I set up box fans while opening the outside doors. The windows were already open, great...probably woke up the entire neighborhood. It finally dispersed enough to stop setting off the alarm. The only comment from my son, "Great - that was the last package of noodles".

Are you kidding me? I wake up and go from 0 to 60 in 5.1 seconds and all you care about is your "breakfast"? Luckily, the rest of the day was better than the start. (Not much of a segway).

My son and I finished painting the 5 birdhouses we bought for my Dad. He had said he wanted to mount birdhouses along the fence posts surrounding the pool. I'm glad he told me it's what he wanted, it's a lot better than golf balls...Again.

We went to the craft store yesterday and bought 5 different styles of unfinished birdhouses, paints, stickers and little wooden add ons. My sons creative side really came out. He painted an octagonal house navy blue, and added red, white & blue flag stickers. He then glue gunned a wooden welcome sign on it. It was finished off with a couple coats of acrylic sealer. It was the best one of the bunch. It was so good, there could be a birdhouse business in my sons future.

I had a 24x56 inch poster printed up with a picture of Robert Young and bold print saying "Father Knows Best" that I signed as my Fathers Day card. This is relevant for more than one reason, which will be revealed soon.

Dad loved his presents, and the poster. It seems such a small token for everything my Dad has done for, and been to me.

Thank you Daddy, for being exactly who you are. I love you.

PS.
Son, don't think I will forget this morning. I will wait until you grow up and use it as often as necessary to embarrass you.