I have a tendency to plan without thinking

Plan without thinking - what an oxymoron.

But it's true, especially when it comes to dates. Last year Sam and I went to WI and were gone for Ben's birthday and this year I'll be out of town for Father's Day...and Sam will be with Ben. I know that Ben doesn't particularly care about such things; in his mind holidays and birthdays are incidential and he doesn't remember them unless someone reminds him. It's obvious that I'm bad with dates too so the deal is that it's my responsibility to remember dates related to my side of the family, his responsibility to remember dates related to his side of the family. I try not to feel guilty when he forgets...he still has birthday gifts here from last year for his sister's kids.

But that's not the point here, the point is that I'm going to be out of town for Father's Day because I'm catching up with a friend of mine from college who finished her PhD just last month. We're going to pretend we're carefree college students once again, if only for a few days.

I do feel a bit guilty that I won't be around to celebrate Ben's fatherhood until late in the day but hey, Ben isn't MY Dad!

Still, I'm taking a moment here to point out some of the ways Ben enjoys fatherhood:

• It has given him an opportunity to buy all the toys he wishes he'd had as a child such as the electric train in Sam's bedroom.
• He is attempting to get Sam to agree with him in order outvote me on just about everything. There are times when it's good Sam is a contrarian as Ben's success rate with this strategy is quite limited. Do you think perhaps Sam inherited this trait from Ben?
• Sam's love of popsicles gives Ben an excuse to buy popsicles. And of course they have to be comsumed immediately.
• All the women he works with fawn over Sam and Ben quite enjoys the attention.
• Ben enjoys the opportunity to snuggle up with Sam on the couch while veiwing quality funny-looking TV.
• He likes to anticipate the time that Sam will be able to join him in all his hobbies. Motorcycles, hunting, biking, fishing, etc.

Oh, and it appears that Father's Day is a bit of an afterthought. Perhaps it's like my sister saids in the comments...every day is Father's Day!