Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day, Dear Readers.  I hope all you guys have tons of fun on the golf course on in the hammock or at the ball game or whatever men do on their Once-A-Year Day.

My son Nick makes apps for your model device.  His wife Missy is a former ballerina turned professional trainer.

Wordplay Sidebarre: When asked what she did for a living, I used to say that my daughter-in-law was a dancer.  People would look startled and some would ask, “Exotic? Does she use a pole?”  That’s when I switched to “ballerina” to describe Missy’s calling in life.

This July they will have been married for eight years.

They are expecting their first child in September.

And on Nick’s birthday- April 21- they found out that they are having a boy.

Here’s Natasha, baby Nicky and me on his very first Father’s Day in 198o.

(Note Heinz catsup bottle in pride of place.)

Of course they’re thrilled and, of course, so am I.

(Although I must admit that I never dreamed that I would have a grandchild named “Hendrix.”  It’s taken some getting used to but just as I started to like it, Nick announced that Missy had called for a name change and that “Hendrix” is probably a non-starter.)

Nick is never happier than when he is on a snowboard.  But his snowboard trips- like everything else in his life- are about to carve a radical turn.

He has NO idea.

All I can say is that a couple of weeks ago, Nick was staying with me and he had to make a very early flight at O’Hare back to Seattle.

(He and Missy live in Seattle but Nick’s business is headquartered in Chicago.  He works remote three weeks a month and then comes here for a week of face time with his clients and his team.)

He had to head out at 3:39 a.m. and he had already told me that I didn’t have to get up to see him off.

Of course, I got up to say good bye.

A very sleepy-looking and startled Nick raised his eyebrows when he saw me at the front door.

“Why are you up, Dude?  You didn’t have to do that.”

“You’ll find out why I got up soon enough,” I smiled.

“In September.”

Happy FD one and all.

Salut.