Happy Father's Day!

Whether you are a seasoned veteran (love you, J!), deep in the trenches (love you, K!), or just beginning your journey, Happy Father's Day!

I often tease about what I perceive to be a lack of multitasking ability in men - it amazes me that K can manage much of the inner workings of a very complicated and heavily used computer network from 8-5 but when he gets home, asking him to boil water for the pasta, check the kids' homework, and see why the toilet is making that gurgling sound is enough to blow his mind.

While I hold the whole of our kids' past, present, and future on my mind at once, trying to determine how each choice they make or is made for them impacts their long-term success and happiness, trying to figure out how to help them navigate the latest social challenge, and thinking of new ways to sneak some nutrition into their daily lives, I sometimes (often) forget to quiet all of that and live in the moment. They always have my attention but rarely all of it.

It isn't always easy to get the attention of a father, but when I did, and when my children do, they get 100% of it. No multitasking. "What's that thing?" can turn into a two-hour long explanation of the inner workings of a carburetor (as we take it apart on a towel...in the middle of the [carpeted] living room floor). "Wanna go for a bike ride? can turn from a spin around the block into a first lesson in singletrack, complete with a stop at the lake and, in the process of "helping" a friendly stranger, holding a real life fish while releasing it. My goal of a quick round of K reading bedtime stories and getting the kids to sleep while I get some work done (or watch Deadliest Catch, or do dishes, or work on the bottomless pile of laundry) is often derailed by an especially exciting chapter of a book, and then another, and another, and another.

If I press K about his inability to boil the water, check the toilet, and help with the homework, he looks at me, dumbfounded, and says, "I started with the homework. The kids needed help. The rest can wait, right?"

Yes. It can.

But not indefinitely.