Surviving our lives

There are weeks that really test your mettle. This last week was one of those for me. First, starting a week ago today my wife and I were visiting our second home in Santa Barbara and on Tuesday my Wife got really sick so I had to leave my 4WD truck in one of the garages as well as our mountain bikes and drive my wife home in her Lexus so she could recover in Northern California in our main home. I was concerned about leaving my truck there because I wasn't sure how I was going to get it back. Today, a week later my wife is still sick but well enough to care for herself and she also has backup near our home. So I left yesterday for my Son's wife's college graduation ceremonies which are tonight. But as you all know yesterday was Father's day and I expected after spending a father's day morning with my youngest Daughter and wife to spend Sunday night also with my son and my youngest daughter as sort of a Father's Day moment to be remembered. However, this didn't happen. So after 8 hours of driving from 11 Am to 9 pm last night which was broken only by returning my rental car to the airport in Santa Barbara and taking a Taxi to my SB home I found out my son was too occupied with his wife's graduation to spend ANY time yesterday at all with me. This morning too, at first he wasn't going to see me until the graduation ceremonies. Now, I'm an adult. I can be very disappointed and still deal with almost anything even if I'm a bit grumpy. After all, I dealt with raising 5 kids and two God Daughters in all or most of everyone's life depending upon the person including having babies poop on me or throw up into my mouth etc. You know, all the really fun stuff of parenting which you either laugh about later or run away screaming (your choice). And then all the teenage insults and all the emotional and physical and monetary expense of it all. (You either like kids or you don't). (I personally like to be around kids because when I'm around them I can sort of still be a big kid too as long as I can be responsible like a parent at all times as well. So, this situation with my son was one of those difficult parenting moments. On the one hand I had just left my sick wife and taken my (future possibly sick 15 year old south about 5 hundred miles from my wife for my son's wife's graduation from college and he couldn't even be bothered to spend any of father's day or any time on Monday outside of the Graduation. However, I was proud of him being as dutiful as he was to his wife even though he was treating me like shit. "A son is a son 'til he takes him a wife" after all whereas a
"daughter's a daughter the rest of your life." So having been through all this being loyal to your wife above all others except God thing as well I was proud of him even while I was pissed off at how inconsiderate he was being of my wife, my 15 year daughter and myself. So, today now on Monday it is sunny and I'm sitting on a second floor veranda looking at hummingbirds who are tasting the nectar of the flowers and I'm going to be okay. Now here come big black bumblebees doing the same thing. Beautiful Day!