As I sat on the tailgate of my daughters truck with her last night, a lot of emotions surfaced. How did this amazing young lady sitting beside me , a senior in high school, get this old, how did I get this old? How did she go from being Super Why, a werewolf, a zombie cowboy and all the others to studying psychology while we are handing out candy ?
How did we go from dressing up and walking the neighborhood trick or treating to sitting on the back of a tailgate handing out candy to other kids that their parents think they have all the time in the world?
They don’t.
You blink and it’s gone. You go from first steps and first words and first trick or treats to probably her last Halloween at home. And soon it’ll be her last Thanksgiving and last Christmas and her last year of school that I get to see her everyday.
First day of kindergarten to first day of Senior Year, first race to last cross country race, first concerts to hopefully not last concerts but I am sure friends will replace me, first game at Wrigley Field to, well we do have one more summer before college and hopefully some summers in between college years, first College Game Day at Ohio Stadium to, well there is a big game coming up in a few weeks so maybe College Game Day will be there and we will have one more.
Her first college acceptance official letter came today. The email came a few days ago. Another email came today accepting her to another school. And I’m sure in the next few days or weeks, or blinks of an eye, she will get accepted to the other three or four she’s applied to. It’s nice to have choices.
But we almost know for sure where she will go. Far enough away to not see her often but close enough where she can still come back home on a weekend, if she wants too.
But more than likely she won’t be coming home to the same house she left, the house she grew up in.
A lot of changes are coming our way. Some good, some not so good. Some happy, some sad.
But like a book, life has its beginnings and its different chapters that somehow all come together to make a wonderful story. And as all stories end, new beginnings begin.
But for now there’s still a few more chapters to read in this book. Then it’ll go up on the shelf of memories and another book will be opened up.
I really have enjoyed being the dad in this book. I am thankful.
While Kim was in Boston for her annual running of the Boston Marathon, Kylie and I had some bonding time. It seems to be getting harder to do here lately. Of course, as you can tell my lack of posts, I haven’t done much of anything lately but try to stay afloat.
We went out to eat at a new place called the Atlas Tavern. Kylie had the southern fried chicken sandwich with cole slaw on it. She said it was the best thing she had ever tasted. She also had some grilled veggies.
I had the black garlic Swiss cheeseburger. It was very good and the waffle fries were cooked to perfection. Excuse the silly face.
We had some time to relax and talk, play baseball and watch baseball. Wish we had more times like that but the older she gets school events and friends take priority over dear old dad but I understand, having been here before with the older siblings.
We also went to The Ohio State spring game with one of our other daughters, Kayhla, and her husband Joey. It was a perfect day to watch some football and see how the new team should do this year. Go buckeyes.
Congratulate Kim if you will. She set a personal record for a marathon. Way to go Kim.
Santa bought Kim a flight to Florida to see her mom January 25th-January 28th.
Since she was gone and I had to cook and do dishes for three days, Kylie and I took the opportunity to not eat so healthy.
On Thursday night I made killer pizzas at Cucinova. Kylie even did the dishes.
On Friday night, Kylie wanted to pig out so I was inspired by BW3’s and made mozarrella sticks, loaded nachos, buffalo wings, onion rings, a Wisconsin Cheese Curd hamburger with fries. It was a pretty good dinner. Kylie and I had a good conversation about life and school and all that. Kylie even volunteered to do the dishes again.
Yes, our kitchen looks just like BW3’s.
On Saturday night, we went to McKenzie River, a place I had never been to.
I meant I made dinner inspired by McKenzie River menu. See, even have the menu on the table. Our daughter from another mother came along, Kylie’s BFF Brinley. I meant she came over to the house while I cooked. She is like family. Not much conversation with Kylie and I but it is always fun to just watch those two interact and laugh.
I made some really good chicken tenders, fries, hamburger with pulled pork on it. It was delicious. Since Kylie had company, I did the dishes.
I hope to get back to writing today. I have written some things but have not finished them yet. Maybe I will reblog some old stuff in the mean time. Been a busy week.
Even if it is two days before November, I will be thankful for the time Kylie and I spent together this past Saturday. Having three older daughters, I know it will go by fast.
Since Kylie was little, we would watch College Gameday together whenever I was off work, which wasn’t often. When I worked we would always call each other and FaceTime the last ten minutes to make the picks together. (I could stream ESPN when I was at work Saturday’s.)
It is a tradition that I hope will continue well into her adult years. She likes the NFL better than college. I like college better than NFL. But in general I think both of us just like watching football together.
We went to watch College Gameday live since they were in Columbus for the Ohio State-Penn State game. We had a really good time, even though it was cold and raining, then snowing. 71 Friday, 35 Saturday morning. Only in Ohio they say.
I tried to get Kylie to stay and watch the Skull Session, where Coach Meyer talks and The Ohio State Marching Band, TBDITL, plays but she was too cold and wet.
Needless to say she didn’t want to stay and try to find tickets to watch the game live, nor did I want to pay $200 plus per ticket. We went home and warmed up and watched the game from home.
We were certain Ohio State would lose the game since everyone was picking them to win. They, Ohio State, tried to give the game away but in the end pulled out an exciting 39-38 win.
Plus we were on TV at least four times. That makes us stars in today’s society right.
With the busy schedule I have had, I am way behind on personal posts. I will try to get out my next few posts to get those all caught up on my life over the last month. ( I am sure I am not the only one that has been extremely busy but…)
The Boston Marathon on April 17th. My wife ran again and finished in 3:44:11, which is 2 minutes and 35 seconds faster than her time in 2016. She was on pace for 3:29 at the half way point but the heat caught up to her. She did an amazing job and qualified to run again in 2018. Way to go Kim!
We did not go with her this time to try and save money so no new pictures. (Here are pictures from last year The Boston Marathon- The Race and The Boston Marathon – The Trip .) She met up with one of her good friends from Florida and they had a girls weekend together.
While she was gone, Kylie and I had a daddy-daughter date night. While the cat is away, the mice do not eat healthy. Kylie had the sampler appetizer and I had the Boston Lager burger, in honor of the Boston Marathon of course.
After dinner, we had to stop at Kroger and grab us some ice cream. Yum Yum!
Lessons we all can learn from my daughter. She is wise beyond her years.
Since my wife is in Florida, Kylie wanted to go out to eat. While the cat’s away, the mice will play is what we say. We don’t eat out much, mainly to save money but we also eat healthier at home. My wife is a personal trainer and health coach and she is an excellent cook. We eat a lot of healthy meals but we will still have pizza and other not so healthy foods occasionally. We even have had some meatless weeks. Try it. I feel so much better after the week of having no meat.
Kylie said she wanted to try buffalo wings since she has never had them. I said, “so do you want to go to BW3’s?”
Lesson 1:
She said “no, that’s more like a bar and it is too noisy. I want to go somewhere where it is quieter and we can talk.”
Hmmm. That kind of floored me. Someplace quieter so we can talk. That’s something we as adults don’t do enough of. At least I know I don’t. It also reminds me my wife and I do not go out enough to just spend time with “us”. We need to work on that.
We decide to go to TGIF’s because of endless appetizers. Mom would NOT approve. Kylie orders the buffalo wings, Memphis bbq style. I order the smoke-stacked burger and fries. (1800 calories in one meal. I had water to drink. It was good but not worth about 10-12 miles of running I would need to lose those calories.)
We start to talk and I text Kim to tell her what we ordered and Kylie says “give me your phone.” I thought she was going to text her mom also but no, she puts it on the outside of the table.
Lesson #2
She then says “no more phone during dinner.” I did use it to take pictures though. How many times have we gone out and spent the entire time on the phone and ignoring our families. The few times we have gone out to eat we are amazed of all the people doing this. We went out to dinner for our anniversary and there was a grandma with her two grandchildren and from the time they sat down, ordered the food, and then got the food, she was on the phone and her grandchildren were just sitting there doing nothing. How sad that in this world we choose to be connected to our phones, to sports scores, to news, to work -when we are off work- that we neglect the ones we should be connecting to. I’m not perfect. I have done it also. Next time you go out to eat make the no phones during dinner rule.
What did we talk about? We talked about our summer, school starting, the upcoming football season, and God. We talked about her being baptized soon. She wants to finish reading Discovering Jesus before she gets baptized. She has once chapter left then review. She said she does not want to do it in front of the entire church on a Sunday so we will need to schedule another time. I told her that’s what I did also.
Kylie eats plate #1 and gets plate #2. I believe she ate 11 or 12 of the 18 wings. When did she start putting food away like that? Plus she ate the celery (“because mom would be mad if I didn’t eat some vegetables.”) I guess we are all allowed a cheat day. It is when we do it every day that we gain weight, become unhealthy and start a downward spiral to health problems. Mom did not approve of our dinner.
We then come home and head up the stairs for Kylie to take a shower. As we are going up the stairs she says “I feel like a fat cow. I can’t believe I ate all that. My body is definitely not liking me right now.”
Lesson #3
Recognize when you have done something you shouldn’t. Whether it is eating too much (or not enough), or not exercising (or exercising too much), or drinking too much alcohol, pop, sugary drinks (and not drinking enough water) or whatever it may be. One extreme or the other. Recognize it and make a vow to yourself that you will remember this and not do it again.
“I think I ate too much.”
In summary: find someplace quiet to talk and talk, put away your phones and connect to the humans in your life, and recognize if you have gone to one extreme or the other and correct it. Break bad habits and start new ones.
Bonus lesson :
When you cook, or do anything, together, don’t leave the other person to clean up the mess. In case you were wondering, I am not the one that left the mess for someone else to do.
From our third night without mom.
These are some of Kylie’s favorite songs:
Diamonds by Manafest –
Til I Forget About You by Big Time Rush –
Eyes Wide Open by Sabrina Carpenter –
My Lighthouse by Rend Collective –
Lift Your Head Weary Sinner by Crowder –
Blood Brothers by Luke Bryan –
Somebody by Bridgit Mendler –
Runnin Outta Moonlight by Randy Houser –
I Need A Miracle by Third Day –
Fight Song by Rachel Platten –
Southern Comfort Zone by Brad Paisley –
Had Me At Hello by Olivia Holt and Luke Benward –
and some daddy/daughter songs
Daughters by John Mayer –
You’ll Be In My Heart by Phil Collins –
Daddy by Beyonce –
Walk With You by Edwin Mccain- this is more a wedding song but it can also be the slow sweet walk from baby to adulthood
My God, My Music, My Life 