~Skuttlebutt Sunday has been cancelled due to lack of interest~

Another blast from the past, and a reminder of what a great dad you are.   Look at you—driving in the rain, shoveling snow, fixing doors, chopping wood!  It seems most of our pictures and all of our movies feature fishing.

When you think about it, you have given our kids a fishing legacy that they will remember forever.  When you are 100 years old rocking on the porch with me and the great grand-kids, I am sure we will be telling fishing stories.

I hear the kids talking about you when they think I am not listening.  Usually they say things like, “If Dad was here we could do it”. But I also hear them talk about your great big muscles and various feats of strength that you have preformed.  They talk about how you fixed something that was broken, and how cool it was to get up early and go hunting and how much more fun it is going to work with you than staying home with me.

Right now, what they are talking about is what a sacrifice you are making.  It’s a sad thought:  Daddio alone in a truck eating day old pizza on Christmas Day.  Each of them is trying to think of a way to cheer you up on Christmas day (surprises to come!) and each of them is proud of you for making such a huge effort to change our financial future.

At the base of our kids is a big nugget of self interest so each of them is spending the new money that you are making.  Kaitlyn plans for you to buy her a car and send her to college and buy her braces.  Jake is counting on a swimming pool complete with a slide, a hot tub and a sound system (so the ‘babes’ that come over have music to dance to) and braces.  Ike is also ready for braces and a canoe and a shotgun (so that when you have two weeks off, you and he will have something to do.)

And me?  I enjoy paying the mortgage, and I know that you are road weary and overworked to achieve that goal.  I am not concentrating on you being away and how much I miss you.

 I am concentrating on the fact that you are working your ass off to take us to that place where we are financially stable.

And when I lay down to sleep at night, instead of reaching out to your empty spot and missing you, I dream a dream in which you and I and all of our children are frolicking in the ocean and watching the whales spout. 

And fishing.  Of Course—we  need some deep sea fishing pictures to add to our collection of pictures of fish that we have slaughtered.

I guess what I am saying is that it kind of sucks here without you, but the home is secure and the kids and  I have plans for your days off, and some of them are as common as the video.