Time marches on...

While mostly unfazed by the passing of Jackson and Fawcett. I'm not one prone to attaching a lot of emotion to persons I don't know well. I did watch a scrolling picture tribute today that was accompanied by many of his songs. Songs from my preteen and teen years. As with the news yesterday of both deaths, those songs made me reflect for a moment on my aging and the passing of time.

Perhaps my age bracket is the last to remember when things changed slowly. Microwaves, VCRs, Pulse dial phones, Cell Phones, Cassette Decks...all these things came about, became afforadable, slowly for those in the lower middle class. Now, your new I-Phone is obsolete or at least "so last year" before you can pick it up off the shelf at your electronics retailer.

We waited anxiously to see the one or two shows per week that we just had to see. No chance to catch it later on your preprogramed DVR recorder.

Anyways, this isn't a good ol' days blog. I enjoy today, and yes I miss my yesterdays and that pace of life, but as I said, the events of the past 48 have led me not to morn lost icons of my childhood, or the loss of years, but rather just reminded me that our time is brief, we are responsible for how we spend it, and we best enjoy every moment, because....(sorry for the country song reference Scotty, Todd, and any other's with minimalistic musical taste...just kidding)

Verse 1 Sister cries out, from her baby bed.Brother runs in
with feathers on his head.Mama's in her room learnin how to sew.Daddy's drinkin
beer listenen to the radio.Hank Williams sings Kaw-Liga and Dear John. Time
marches on, time marches on.

Verse 2 Sister's using rouge and clear complexion
soap.Brother's wearin beads and he smokes alot of dope.Mama is depressed barely
makes a sound.Daddy's got a girlfriend in another town.Bob Dylan sings like a
Rolling Stone.Time marches on, time marches on.

Bridge South moves north, North
moves south A star is born, a star burns out.the only thing that stays the same
is everything changes, everything changes.

Verse 3 Sister calls herself a sexy

grandma.Brother's on a diet for high cholesterol.Mama's out of touch with
reality.Daddy's in the ground beneath the maple tree.As the Angles sing an old
Hank Williams song.Time marches on, time marches on. Time marches on,
timemarches on. Time marches on. Time marches on.

Ecclesiastes:
For everything there is a season,And a time for every matter under heaven:A time to be born, and a time to die;A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;A time to kill, and a time to heal;A time to break down, and a time to build up;A time to weep, and a time to laugh;A time to mourn, and a time to dance;A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;A time to seek, and a time to lose;A time to keep, and a time to throw away;A time to tear, and a time to sew;A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;A time to love, and a time to hate,A time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Third attempt at a post today & Holiday World Rocks!

Blogger issues kept losing my posts, so
I'll post a pic of my new workout program.

Eat all the pizza, burgers, and ice cream you want, just be sure to lug 70 lbs worth of kids around for 4 of 5 days on the uphills at Holiday World...

Results, no weight gain, and increased endurance...LOL... and don't forget to practice you flexibility by squeezing into a 60+ year old miniature train car with your kids...

Why Would Anyone Want the Job?

You know, maybe I'm just griping and whining? Maybe other guys don't have a problem with it? Maybe I'm just not a good dad? Either way, I know of at least one guy who agrees with me.

OK, so What's my beef? Why would anyone want to be a dad? Why does it seem guys father children and then run the other way?

Well beyond the usual reasons and lack of sense of responsibility, have you ever read the current job description? But let me back up for a second.

The other day I saw a Larry King interview with Lionel and Nichole Richie. Not my usual fare, but it was on somewhere I was at.

I was intrigued by a question that was posed. Larry King asked Lionel Richie about interview comments in which he said he didn't think he was a good dad to Nichole when she was younger. Lionel responded that it depended on how you viewed being a dad. By the standards of his father's generation, when dad was seen as a provider, then yes he felt he was a good dad, but by today's standards, when a dad is supposed to put in quality hours with their kids everyday, then no. He's right about today's standards. Heck, I even heard an ad to that affect on the radio this morning, brought to you by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Now back to my rant. My dad was a good dad. No a great dad. He gave up his dreams of farming to follow two job transfers that provided for his family. Leaving behind everything he had ever known. He juggled credit and bills to give us a good standard of living, and he coached me in Little League and supported me in every sport I played. However, he wasn't my best buddy and he didn't spend countless hours with me each week. He worked, he worked the family garden, and some of my fondest childhood memories involve me at an early age helping cut wood to fuel the family fireplace to no doubt keep down the energy bills. He was a traditional dad in every sense of the word. One that sustained and built and supported families and this country from its colonial days until the 1990's.

Now I and my counterparts are expected to shoulder those burdens, plus spend hours coloring, reinforcing how much we care, nurturing, etc., etc. You know to be honest, I've cracked a few times under the load. I love my children more than anything in this world. I would give my last breath to see them saved if it came to that, but trying to live up to the modern standards of fatherhood, while fulfilling the traditional role of a dad is fatiguing. I can't even take a night to play sports anymore without wondering if I'm taking too much of my very limited free time away from my kids.

So maybe this is just a personal rant. Perhaps it is TMI, and too honest and raw for publishing to the whole world, but its the truth. At least as it applies to me. Maybe I'm just weak, or maladjusted, or whacko. Maybe others feel the same way. I don't know, but I'm convinced that given the current expectations of fatherhood, it is no wonder that many men fail to follow up on their obligations, or even give up and run away.

For those of us who were kids in the '80s and before, our dad's were the product of a long line of dad's who provided for their families, and those provisions were an indication of their love for their families. Yes their was laughter and fun and all the other stuff mixed in, but job one was that of provider. From that model came generations that forged a new life on America's ever westward moving frontiers, that shouldered the burdens on both sides of the ideology that divided a nation, that fought two world wars and slogged through the Great Depression. From that model emerged a prosperous post war America, that fought for Civil Rights, that took a stand against a war they thought was wrong, that put a man on the moon, that stood its ground until the cold war ended and the Berlin Wall fell, and then that model was deemed a failure. That model was then replaced by the new and improved dad. A model that has gotten us to where we're at today.

It's late, I'm not spell checking or proofing, hopefully you can follow my line of thought, perhaps you agree, perhaps you disagree, but either way I've "vented my spleen" and so in the words of Forrest Gump, "That's all I've got ta say 'bout that."

Good night