My Father’s Day wasn’t anything like I expected

We didn’t make any special family plans for Father’s Day this year so I thought we might take the kids out to a movie (Cade really wants to go see “Inside Out”) and then to a restaurant of MY choosing, which almost never happens. Unfortunately Yan wasn’t feeling well and didn’t spend much of Sunday out of bed. So instead of taking the kids out sans her, I opted for all of us to spend the day at home.

I did the household laundry and some of the other weekly chores we hadn’t yet accomplished. I also decided this would be the perfect opportunity to complete a project I’d been putting off. You see, my independent daughter began talking about having her own room over a year ago (she and Cade used to share a room) so on her fifth birthday last December we gave Ella a new sheet set – “Frozen” of course – and moved her into the guest room.

For the last six months we’ve been meaning to clean out the closet – used for storage – to really let Ella move in and make the bedroom her very own. But weekends are super busy (sound familiar?) and I hadn’t yet gotten around to it. That all ended Sunday. I emptied the closet between laundry loads and began construction on the modular closet system we’d purchased some while back.

Both Cade and Ella were eager to “help” so it took about ten times longer to complete the job than it would have on my own (sound familiar?) but we all had so much fun together, I was actually thrilled they both stuck with the project to the end. And once we were finished, they turned the closet and shelves into an impromptu make-believe store, artfully displayed their wares for sale, and invited me to shop – over and over again throughout the rest of the day. I introduced the concept of bartering to them which they caught onto quickly (and hilariously I might add) and drove some hard bargains, let me tell you.

So I woke up Sunday morning with the expectation of more or less being served by my family throughout the day. But it ended up being just the opposite. I did chores, I completed projects, I played with my kids. I spent my day just being a dad. And I can’t imagine a better Father’s Day (except I wish Yan hadn’t been feeling so bad). There’s a satisfaction in accomplishing things, both large and small, for my family that I feel deep inside. Doing every day “dad” things makes me feel connected, purposeful, content and happy. How about you … sound familiar?