2 weeks is all he had.
I was a single mom with Mason (5) and Hailey (2). So when Mike and I met he knew what he was getting into. Or so he thought.....
Happy Meals, bedtime stories, Disney movies- piece of cake he says. After all he's the best parent around even though he doesn't have kids. HA! But I believed in him so when we married that's when things got interesting.
He had no "training" period. No time to get the hang of being a dad. All he could do was jump with both feet blindly into unfamiliar territory. Most fathers I know don't figuratively start running marathons before 5k's. Mike had to be a fast learner.
Actually we had to learn together. Fast!
And when Lily and Ducati came along this just added to his mix of chaos already. But of course in a lovely way.
After many discussions came about...
Time outs? Not?
Allowance? Not?
What sort of chores should be given?
This list goes on and on. Both calm and heated. Don't mention to us eating in the living room. WW3 might break out. :)
But over the years Mike has taken the label of stepdad and turned it into dad. Just dad. He loves all our kids. Blood doesn't matter to him. His heart is so genuine and generous that he wanted to be involve to the fullest extent he could. On occasion cutting me out for daddy time.
But I am so proud of him. He's still learning as he goes. So am I. Puberty! This needs a handbook. But aren't we all. He's honest with our kids that on certain issues he has no clue what I do but then reassures them that we'll figure it all out together;as a family.
So Father's Day is more than just a day to honor dads. It's a day to remember dads who want to be dads. Skip Happy Father's Day- Honor (Your) Father's Day!
How we honored Mike was sort of lame. Mason and Hailey were with their other dad all day. ( legal thing that he gets Father's Day) so Lily,Cati, and I did the best we could. After church Mike wanted to see a movie. I thought he would have picked his fave which he's been wanting to see Jurassic World. But instead he did the dad thing picked a kid movie, Inside Out. For his dinner he again picked our girls favorite, pizza. Either he's just giving in to them or he's upset.
And after getting it out of him he was sad about Mason and Hailey being gone. And how crapy their gift was. Mike loves homemade gifts but I admit they failed this year. Notebook paper with a quick ," I love you", and a pencil drawing with no colors.
So not being content with seeing my husband sad when Mason and Hailey got home we re-did Father's Day.
Tie garland (me and Cati made)
Signs of appreciation ( we all did)
Colored cards (kids)
Bacon Caramel cake. ( from Lily and Hailey)
Snowflake streamer ( from Ducati)
And a collage picture that we all worked on.
When he got home he walked into a great big surprise!
And he loved it! I'm glad he did. Or I would be redoing the redo.
Mike does a lot for our family so showing appreciation should be on the too of our list but sometimes it's not. But today it was our #1 priority and it paid off. He felt like #1 in our world!
