I’m not my Father!

o

What a weekend, my unofficial Biddy ball point shaving scheme blew up in my face today.  Me and some other dads set the spread at minus 2.5 but evidently the other team got some heavy action late and it tipped off as at minus 1.5 (meaning Sloane’s team had to win by at least two points for anybody that doesn’t understand point spreads).  The lesson today was never launch a complicated gambling scheme with seven-year old girls.  Sloane’s team won by an unofficial score of 26-12 (they actually don’t keep score, this is mine and another dad’s unofficial tally)  While not exactly reminding anyone of the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers, all the girls seemed to have fun.  For any one that hasn’t seen young girl’s basketball; picture those electronic football games from back in the 70s that just vibrated and the pieces/players just went in all different directions.  It’s still a beauty to watch though when it’s your child.

Other weekend happenings, I visited my Lupus riddled friend a big chunk of Saturday, she will soon be joining us in blogger land and I tried to help her out the best I could on getting it started.  Spending a large portion of the day with her and her family I think I must have heard every letter in the alphabet used when it came to her medications.  I can’t wait to walk her through blogger world, not that I am an expert (far, far, far from it) but I’ve been doing it long enough now to know enough to point her in the right direction.  I wish I had half the fire she has fighting this crappy disease, she has great ideas and the connections to get done what she is planning.  I promise you it’s going to be beautiful when she can finally get out of the hospital.  She’s another person from my childhood and hometown that I’ve inoculated myself with.  I wrote about going back to my roots here (FYI, this was during divorce so no proper names were used, and I was also still in the process of wrapping my head around things)  The place in question is Clarksville, Indiana the second favorite vacation destination in this state other than Gary, Indiana of course!  She’s a bit older than me, but that is how our hometown worked in my generation (and partly why we all thought we wanted out), if you went to Clarksville High School and graduated in the ten-year window of late 80s to the late 90s we are all connected still.  This is why I just laugh at people who make fun of social media, go join the Antivaxxer community I set up in Campton, KY; social media is what you make of it.  You can keep in touch with old friends, classmates, out-of-town family and be done.  You can also just turn into a social media whore if you choose.  Bottom line, person living in the Stone Age, social media is a way of life and you just look like an uneducated idiot.  If you click on that link you will see me mention another guy from the “school” across town.  That guy is a great friend now and this is where I have really come “full” circle in my life.

I made the decision last Wednesday after seeing Sloane with her friends at a school function I’m joining the Catholic Church.  Not that I was some free agent that the Christian Church, Church of Latter Day Saints, or Baptist Church were clamoring over (I was trying to get into Judaism and fired my agent when he didn’t make it happen!)  Just kidding!  I mentioned life changing decisions weeks ago and have been ping ponging them in my head for a while.  I grew up not knowing my dad, he wasn’t involved in my life and it is what drives me as a father.  When I learned the news of his passing I didn’t care.  That man was an evil bastard, yet another piece of shit that is the reason any good father has to piss up wind in custody.  At least custody laws are much tougher now because I do believe that worthless man owed 55,000 on me and 35,000 on my younger sister when he passed.  The last time I saw him I was eight years old, my mother did the best she could raising me and my sister.  My sister and I had a major falling out, but have taken steps to reconnect slowly.  Life is to frigging short to hold grudges.  She screwed up and she knows it, I over reacted and I know it.  However, religion was not something I was really ever exposed to unless I stayed with my friend and went to church with them on Sunday mornings and at that age we were passing notes about our favorite Cincinnati Reds players and not paying attention.  With no male presence growing up I got to run astray mentally, I became a man younger than I was probably ready for (and this is no offense to my mother), but every child needs a father. I didn’t get to enjoy that luxury and it was both a blessing and a curse for me as I got older.  Fast forward to the present day, my daughter attends a Catholic school and it is one of the best in the area.  She is 100% Catholic other than she has two parents that aren’t, I want her to grow old with her classmates and with everything I went through there is a higher power looking out for me.  More importantly, I want to do this for me!  Call it a soul cleansing; call it whatever you want I don’t care.  June 20th, 2014 I was at an ER unit in Louisville, KY and almost didn’t get to see my daughter grow up.  Over what?  A selfish, ruthless soon to be ex-wife?  I’m the idiot, and something or someone looked out for me that day.  Going through everything I am ready to accept that there is a higher calling that looks out for you.  I’m not dead and I should be!  That “guy” from the other school is going to be my sponsor in my transition into the Catholic Church.  (Assuming you clicked on the other link), and I can’t thank him enough!