5 years ago this spring; I started a tradition with my g'kids (Ava being the first) of periodically picking them up and having them run with me to various job sites to see how things were going. Ava Corinne (more about her in the next blog, as she is with me tomorrow) by far enjoyed many more of these initial visits than did the others, due to her advanced intelligence. It's been fun every time.
Yesterday was WP's turn. These trips have decreased greatly in frequency since Ava and Will have begun school, and spring break this week afforded them some time off.
WP's favorite color is blue, as is mine. He was dressed in a blue jacket, and I was wearing his favorite blue stripped shirt. He'd been so excited about the day that he'd made a list on a special blue sticky note pad. It was his duty of the day to check the items off as we completed them (yes, he too is a task master; and loves structure.)
Our first stop was QT, as we did need gas, and he needed his Pumpkin Coffee. Unfortunately, QT had stopped carrying Pumpkin Coffee the prior week, and replaced it with Cinnamon Roll. He didn't care for it as much, but wanted to try it anyway. A fresh donut was offered him, as was a cookie, but as is Will's nature, he declined both offers. Food is not that big a deal to him . . .
We headed to play golf (at Dick's), and got pretty soaked walking in. The door greeter lady commented on what a pretty son I had, and I said thank you, and moved on. I have stopped telling people that I am their Pappy, and not Dad, as it has happened so many times the last 5 years that it has become routine. So, I just smile and say thank you. It is much easier.
Upon arrival at the putting green, WP makes his putter selection (blue handled of course), and begins to challenge me to a putting contest. I picked up a matching blue handled putter, getting a precious smile from WP by doing so, and we lined the balls up. Will went first, and from 18' away missed it by just a hair, but with so much force that it went 30' over and under the adjoining racks of men's clothes. After retrieving the ball; I lined up my shot. WP said "take a few practice swings Pappy, you'll do better", so I did. I then hit the ball, and watched it travel into the hole. Will hooped and hollered like he'd just seen Phil win the masters. So easy to please . . .
It was the first time that I'd had a putter in my hands in 4+ years, and thus I was quite surprised to have holed a 22' on my first attempt. It had to be the sage advice of WP "Haney Project" Kueny of "take a few practice swings Pappy, you'll do better" :-).
The next 30 minutes were spent putting, and spelling. I know, the two don't mix, but Will is learning to read, and he saw letters all over these hole flags, and repeatedly asked me what an assortment of letters sounded like. He'd turned it into a game. He's good at games. He's also good at seeing letters.
As we were leaving the store, WP happened by a bright purple long sleeved ladies Nike workout top, and said "Oh Pappy look, Nini would love that!" Such a sweet tender hearted boy, yes, Nini would love that, and probably already owns something just like it, but that is so sweet for you to have noticed.
After being strapped up and headed to the bowling alley, I was slowly making my way onto the road, and I heard Will mumbling numbers. Random numbers, or maybe they were sequenced, but he was definitely mumbling numbers. I asked him "Will, what are you doing?" His reply, "I'm quietly counting numbers to myself Paps; do you mind?" And I said, carry on my boy, carry on. More power to you if you like to count numbers; we need more people in the world that love to count numbers.
Upon arrival at BA Bowling, there was some concern that there would not be any open lanes, as the parking lot was full of mini-vans, cuv's, suv's, trucks, jeeps; etc. It didn't take long to realize these were mostly soccer mom types with a boat load of kids. (Their idiotic stickets on the rear glass showing all of the names, soccer balls, baseballs, footballs, frisbee's, dead birds, dogs, diapers, and baton's was a dead giveaway.)
And sure enough, as we walked through the front door, we were hit by a cacophony of sounds, mostly of children age 4 to 10 in various forms of excitement. We got one of the last few lanes, #31, and proceeded with caution. We were sandwiched in between I believe 18 soccer mom types, (I was one of the only males in the entire building), and I think there were 57 bowling children as off-spring of these 18 soccer moms.
Wow, this was a loud place, and wished I had on my Bose earphones. Hearing their non-stop chatter, as well as crashing pins, and you can only imagine the sheer delight that I was having of 57 children all yelling at the same time. Somehow, I was able to 'zone out', and kept my focus on WP, and our 'task' of bowling. Will loves to bowl, but he loves the arcade too, and yes, before you ask, there were even more youngsters playing in the arcade. They were all angels though; there was not a bad seed in the bunch . . ., not a single bad seed . . ., not a one that I want to beat with a pogo stick . . .
When we left the bowling alley, I was holding his hand, and was thinking to myself how fast he was growing up, what a big boy he was becoming, how proud I was to be his Pappy, and how much I loved him. Less than 2 minutes later, he brought me back to reality that he's not that big yet, as he said "Pappy, where's my sippy cup?" He'd left it inside, and thankfully it was there when we went back inside. I realized though that if he's 5 and still thinks its cool to drink from a sippy cup, then so be it, and I'm not going to tell him otherwise!
Here is his bowling score sheet, and his sticky of things to do that we kept track of:
Our morning together was concluded over lunch at Ron's. Will chose, and quickly told me he wanted chicken and fries. I had no idea how hungry he was. Will's eating habits are quite persnickety, and I was pleased but surprised as he downed 6 nuggets, and a quite large pile of fries. He never eats that much, but Mom told me that he'd skipped breakfast to make sure he would be good and hungry when it was time for lunch with Pappy.
I love you WP. I loved having you with me yesterday, and look forward to our next trip together!
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