Stories for Dads and Moms who Need a Laugh

Recovering from surgery isn't the ideal way to get a little rest and relaxation, but I'll take a little downtime any way I can get it. The History of my Legs Last Summer, I was visiting my family when my sister said something about my legs. Veins were bulging out. My parents and my wife noticed what she was talking about, and I suddenly regretted wearing shorts that day. "How long has it been like that," people started to ask me. "I don't know," I said. "A couple of years, maybe." "It doesn't hurt?" "No," I said. "It doesn't bother me at all." The truth is I never even noticed it until people brought it up to me that day. I consider myself to be a relatively healthy person. When I was a teenager, I would ride my bike for miles and miles. I had worked manual labor jobs. In high school and college, I was on my feet working. In my twenties and thirties, I've been hauling heavy loads or standing working ret...

Getting ready to perform. When writing for newspapers, the biggest fringe benefit of the job was getting into the games for free. I love sports. I wasn't very good at playing them, but I enjoyed playing them, nonetheless. Watching the games and getting paid to watch them was a lot of fun for me. Watching Sports with and without my Kids I coached my own children for a few glorious years. Teaching them something I loved allowed me to do something with them, and I love doing thing with them. Reading, watching something on the television, anything. A few years ago, my youngest children decided that sports wasn't for them. I was a little upset that The Oppressed and The Boy didn't share my love for playing or watching sports, but these things happen. It was fun for me to watch them run up and down the field and get exercise while they worked on their motor skills and coordination. I also enjoyed watching how they communicated with their teammates on the field and the sidelines. ...

I am a stay-at-home-dad, which means I am responsible for serving and cooking meals, and shopping for the ingredients needed to make said meals. Over the years, I have made a habit of looking for the best deals. It comes from being broke in my twenties, like a lot of people have gone through and are going through now. Shopping at Market Basket Saves Money "The Basket" One shopping godsend I discovered years ago is Market Basket . If you're not from New England, you may remember this grocery store chain from the 2016 documentary  that told of the internal fighting at the top of the corporate chain and the employees' reaction to the in-fighting. More recently, the store was in the news when one customer allegedly threw a watermelon at another. 🍉 Sensational stories aside, people like me go to Market Basket because it's cheap. I have four children, a dog, and a cat to feed, so it's important to stretch that grocery dollar. There are some people who don't go...

Today is New Year's Eve. It's the day we say goodbye to 2023 and ring in a new year. It's the one night our children are allowed to stay up late, only to have them conk out on the floor or the couch while the rest of us wish everyone a Happy New Year. Celebrating with Friends There have been different ways of celebrating the New Year. The earliest celebrations I can remember is when friends and neighbors came to the house to celebrate. My siblings and I couldn't understand why we had to go to bed while the adults got to stay up late. I wanted to know what happened when the clock struck twelve. How exactly did the new year arrive and what was the big deal? No one bothered to explain to us kids what happened or how it happened. All I knew was that we went to bed one year and woke up in a completely different year. As time went on, a new though short-lived tradition occurred. My best friends and their parents would come over to celebrate New Year's Eve. No one was sta...

2023 It's been a fun and interesting year for me and my family. Wife, the children, and me did a lot of things. We went to a lot of places, and we were able to share some new experiences. There were also new things I got to do and learn by myself. With my family or by myself, destinations and activities provided memories and plenty of stories. Being a Foster Parent We decided to end our tenure as foster parents this year. It was a memorable and interesting six-year run that none of us will forget. Fostering duties meant additional parent-teacher conferences and doctor's visits. Monthly visits with social workers allowed us to address numerous issues and share stories. Some were funny, some weren't so funny. We will be sure to remember some children better than others as each placement came with unique challenges and experiences. One of the most memorable experiences Wife and I had was adopting two children who were placed with us. Living without Electricity A fire in the f...