Parenthood, the Ultimate Commitment

Hello everyone. Today I am starting my new blog. This blog is going to try to not be political or judgmental, but I’m fairly certain I will cross lines. If Bruce Springsteen and the Dixie Chicks can force their opinions on people who come to their concerts I certainly can as well on people who visit my blog! However, this is not its intended purpose. The intended purpose here is to just let me vent on issues and observations that ride that merry-go-round in my head. I cannot begin to speculate what it will be the next time. Those that know me know I cannot stay on one topic for very long. I would like you to know if I am going to go off on something that is colorful I will give it an (R) rating next to the title. To understand where I am coming from let me give you a little background on me…………..I am a 43 year old, single male. I have spent most of the last 20 years living with my twin 19 year old daughters. I seem to have a feminine side because of this. This was my greatest education. I have experienced more drama than most men. More than all the episodes of General Hospital in fact. In my blog I’m going to try to be funny, but in my first one I wanted to touch on something very important to me; parenthood.
Death & Parenthood are the only commitments I could think of that are final. I’m not much into commitment. I have avoided it at all costs for the most part (except for parenthood). I’ve made commitments before such as marriage, buying a home or trying to watch the whole series of 24. These were not final. I’m not married, I no longer have that house and I really can’t sit still for 24 hours. I really don’t think those commitments were what one would call final. I understand marriage is supposed to be “til death do us part” but that really isn’t the case most of the time these days. (My blog on marriage is coming in the near future. I’m sure my ex-wife and current girlfriend (two separate people) will find that one interesting.) They should change that to “til something better comes along.” But parenthood! Now that’s commitment.
My first taste of parenthood as a commitment came on Christmas Eve 1989. In those days Wal-Mart stayed open until midnight. We got my son a radio flyer little red wagon. The good one that was actually made out of metal. We waited for him to go to bed so we could put it together and give all props to Santa. The only problem is I’m not exactly what you would call “handy” and it didn’t have all the parts. That’s my story. I put it together the best I could but there were parts I needed that I just didn’t have. It’s about 11:30PM and I’m in my pajamas and robe. Next thing I know I’m in the same pajamas and robe standing in the hardware section of Wal-Mart. I look around and notice there are about 3 or 4 other dads standing around in their pajamas and robes. We are all scratching our heads. Not sure if we are more confused about what parts we needed or why the hell we would go out in our underwear on Christmas Eve. We give each other the “man nod” affirming our mutual dilemma. Apparently there were a lot of radio flyer little red wagons delivered by St. Nick that year. That’s commitment!
When I was going thru divorce I took up smoking. Don’t judge me, I needed a vice. After stressful days I loved to go into the garage and spark it up. One day my youngest daughter (She is 3 minutes younger than her sister. Her older sister won’t let her forget it either) came into the garage and said, “Daddy if you don’t stop smoking, your heart is going to turn green and you’re going to die like grandmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” I stopped that day. Let me tell you, smoking is like a commitment! You have to pay an unworldly amount of money for cigarettes. You have to make excuses to slip away to smoke. You have to always have gum, hand sanitizer and some kind of cologne to keep that awful smoker smell in check (when actually you just add more fragrance to it). I crushed the pack I had right there. That’s commitment!
A short time ago my oldest daughter gave me a frantic phone call. She’s at school; she has no money, no gas in her car and started her period. Apparently the tampons they have in the bathrooms at school are not up to the ardent standards of my baby girl. Next thing I know I’m standing in the feminine hygiene isle at HEB staring blankly at products I have never used or intend to. I have my daughter on the phone trying to explain to me what exactly she needs. I really don’t understand not having tampons. I would think if I had a period the prior month, and month before, etc I would know something may happen this month as well. But I digress. My daughter doesn’t even know what brand she uses. She can only describe the box. She also gave me a slogan they use on their commercials. I actually asked a poor lady walking down the aisle if she knew what brand came in a blue box and had “a unique leak guard.” If I designed these boxes my slogan would be “gets the red out”, but I think that one is already taken. Asking complete strangers about feminine hygiene, that’s commitment!
Especially after the divorce I made a promise to not do anything I didn’t want my kids to do. Drinking, smoking, wild women….everything. I own a company that shoots video for people to use on their website. At a recent conference I was asked by a young man if I would like to work on something for him. You people who own your own business know the answer is always “yes.” He went on to explain how he has an adult website and would like to add video on a subscription basis. In my mind I’m saying, “thank you God, I’ve been waiting for this since puberty.” (I know God probably doesn’t condone this website, but I was also telling myself He let this happen for a reason). So much going thru my mind! I opened my mouth and here is what came out, “ya know….I’m not judging you, but I have two beautiful daughters. They wouldn’t understand me working on a project like that and I wouldn’t be comfortable doing anything I couldn’t share with them.” Really! That’s what I said! Not what I was thinking! That’s commitment!
Parents do everyday what they don’t want to do. They do this because they are committed to their children. They commit because being a parent is the most important job in the world. I am very proud to know as many good parents as I do. I count them among my greatest friends. As thankless of a job it can be (sometimes) it is still the best job in the whole world. Whereas parenting doesn’t pay much money, it does payoff huge down the road when we become grand-parents. But that is another blog for another day.

Occasional BS

Coming soon.......................