Father's Day is always a little nerve wracking to families with kids who may go entirely off the rails at any moment, or who have only so many hours of "agreeable-ness" in them before they just can't keep up the pleasant attitudes for one more second. (Maybe I just described 95% of families, I don't know.) This one though, with two teenagers and one complicated 6 year old .... I definitely described this one.
So our 15 y/o drove my highlander first out to Lewiston to get Con, then to lunch, then to the beach, then home, for nearly two total hours, which results in an increased number of hold-your-breath and also hold-that-ceiling-handle seconds. "Leah, the speed limit is ONLY ...." "stay in the RIGHT lane ...." "A blinking red STILL means stop ...."
We all got sunburned at Tuscan Bistro, and the waiter was brand new and very nervous and Con spent a lot of time feeling bad for him, and M spent a lot of time asking him for french fries, and obsessing over the 'pine tree' in my grapefruit paloma, but the food and drinks were terrific, and M survived quite well, and was truly amused and not angry when Con drew a pic of her with her excessively loose front tooth sticking out over her bottom lip, as it has been for 3 weeks now, making Leah gag on a near daily basis.
After, we went to Winslow Memorial Park, and Con convinced M to let him pull the damn tooth out by offering her a quarter, which she understands buys a giant rainbow gumball at Hannaford. So he succeeded after only about 30 seconds, much to the amusement of beachgoers everywhere. But we had no napkins, and her mouth bled all over the place, including all through her teeth and on her bare legs, and so Leah and Con took horrifying pics of her looking like a boxer who did not win, and Jay had to usher her into the ocean to swish salt water in her mouth and basically take a bath.
The older kids then ditched us for the playground, or maybe to complain about how long this day was taking, and then M found a gigantic dead jellyfish when she was waist deep in the ocean, which both terrified and fascinated her, and sent her scrambling to the sand, and that was the end of her ability to step in the ocean for today.
Then Leah said she had a headache and we should have told her to use sunblock (nevermind that at nearly 16 she typically does not want us to suggest she do ANYTHING), and M complained the entire ride home that she was hot and itchy and everything was awful. But we got back, and Jay said he had a great day, and I do really think he actually meant it.
Happy Father's Day to all of you guys .... whether you're someone's Dad or someone's male role model, or a Mom doing the nonstop jobs of two parents, or a Mom who busted her *** to try to make this day pleasant.
♡