Father's Day 2006

Lydia's illness of over 10 days has made her very mommycentric. Seems like the same thing was happening LAST Father's Day. Still, she DOES let me hang with her when Mommy's not around, when we read, play with her blocks, and eat and even change her diaper. But when I try to change her when mommy's around, she screams and thrashes about violently.

I can't help remembering (again) how I wish MY dad could have met Lydia. Interestingly, both of my sisters send me Father's Day cards. It surprises me, but maybe it's a function of me being the alpha male in the family. (Heck, except for my niece's husband of a year and a quarter, the ONLY male in the Green line.) Certainly, I seldom (or maybe never) sent THEM Mother's Day cards, but then our Mom is still around. My friend Mark called me last night (his daughter is 10) to wish me a Happy Father's Day. What really surprised me is that my friend Sarah Kim sent me a Father's Day card, handmade.

I should note that my father-in-law Richard has been great. His 70th birthday was last month, and we had a surprise birthday party for him yesterday, with his kids converging in Oneonta from Albany, Catskill, and southeast Pennsylvania, along with a few dozen of his friends and relatives. He's coming up to Albany, so he and I can go to the season opener of the New York-Penn League game Tuesday between his Oneonta Tigers and my Tri-City Valley Cats (a Houston Astros farm team). He'll feature in the Tales of Lydia a week or so hence.

Still, there's some fatigue-driven melancholy - I finally fall asleep around 4 a.m. yesterday morning, only to be awakened by my favorite daughter 30 minutes later, so even though I slept last night, I'm still running on fumes - and I've found there is only one cure for me: listening to music. Which will be a post unto itself soon. Amazon, do you still have my credit card on file? (Answer, at least at work, no, because we have a new IP address.)

But one couplet from the new Paul Simon album, seems appropriate here:
"There could never be a father
Who loves his daughter more than I love you"
Fathers of daughters everywhere, INCLUDING HERE, will claim the same.
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I haven't had time to listen to this three minute audio (and I don't have sound on my computer at home, but friend Sarah recommends it for Fathers Day, and that's good enough for me.
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I'm feeling for my buddy Eddie, whose father died last year just before Father's Day.
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Ooh, it's Paul McCartney's 64th birthday today. I'm SURE Mr. Hembeck will have something, ESPECIALLY since I reminded him. I'll get to my thoughts, soon.