Snap Out of It!

Yesterday was a rough day, as opposed to one of my previous posts; I got sucked into the Sunday Syndrome and started getting depressed about the work week, my to-do list and everything else going on.  It carried over in to Monday where I was getting overwhelmed with life and was really down in the dumps, the B/W Parkway having an accident on my way in added to it, making my commute about 35 minutes longer than normal.  I was given free tickets to the Orioles vs Nationals game and had promised my son that we would go together.  On the way home, I started to hope that he had a bad day at school and I could get out of it, but no such luck!  A green day from school meant that there was no way I could let him down so off we went.

I have (still) a massive to-do list and had an hour and a half before the game, so I went and cut my dad’s grass and got home in time to change before leaving and I was still a grouch!  Brenn was glowing and giddy to be going to his second Os game in as many days.  I knew I was on a budget so I was going to scramble to make something before we left but my wife must have gotten paid from her side business in cash so she slipped me some cash and told me to have fun and don’t stress about the budget.  We made it out there and talked a lot on the way, answering lots of questions and talking about the game, I finally started to loosen up.

As we started walking up to the stadium, he just started skipping and bouncing just to be at the game with his daddy!  That was when the lightbulb went off, I need to snap out of this funk and enjoy my time with my little dude!  If I kept it up, I would bring him down and spoil what could be a precious moment.  I decided to get back to goofy daddy and have some fun.  We went to the kids’ games in the park that we couldn’t get to on Sunday and he got to play all of them, went all the way up to our seats, grabbed some stadium food, a pretzel and a beer and sat down.

My wife had said that it would be good for me to go to the game and escape real life for a while and have some good one on one time with Brenn and we did just that!  Though we are Nats fans too, we aren’t when they play the Orioles, we love the battle of the Beltways.  The Orioles put on a show, starting with a leadoff home run and then two more in the first inning.  It was great and there was a lot of cheering and high fives.  We went on a couple of walks to stretch our legs and get some funnel cake and I even let him go all the way to the top of the stadium and sit by himself for a few batters (there was nobody nearby and I was the next closest person).

When we were walking out of the stadium to the car, I thanked him.  He looked a little confused and asked what I was thanking him for and I told him that if he wasn’t so excited for the game, I wouldn’t have gone and I really needed it.  He told me that he knew that and really just wanted to spend some time with me when I wasn’t so grumpy from work or doing things around the house.  It partially broke my heart and also made me smile.  Sometimes our tiny humans can drive us batty and we don’t know how we survive without pulling out our hair.  Other times we realize that we are as dependent on them as they are on us; this was one of those times.  I gave him a big hug and told him that I was looking forward to our next game or adventure and I would try my best to snap out of it already.

Stay humble and strong out there dads, and snap out of it already!