Road Trip 2008 - An Epilogue

Before we set off on our road trip on Father's day 2008, Brendan gave me a nice Father's Day card and a few gifts. The gifts were all fishing lures. As it turned out we caught a few fish with the new lures, and lost at least one of them on a snag. Those fishing lures along with that road trip were one great father's day gift.

When we got home from the trip, I noticed that there was a receipt on our dining room table for a barbecue grill. I looked outside and saw the old one missing with nothing in its place. I got a bit upset that my wife had gone out to buy a fairly expensive grill without letting me know, and when we did not have the money for it; heck even the road trip was an extravagant cost right then what with our recent unexpected expenses to replace a water heater, have an oak tree cut down, and so forth.

The next day, I awoke at about 0815 when the phone rang. It was a deliveryman from Home Depot calling to tell me he would be there within 15 minutes. When he showed up, he rolled a really nice new, and fully assembled, Charmglow barbecue grill off of the truck and around to the spot at the side of my house where we had kept the old one. It was really nice, and I am sure you can tell from the picture I have posted here. Still though I was not too happy about it. When I went back inside, I noticed a an envelope attached to the receipt for the grill. I opened it and found a funny and nice Father's Day card from my daughter and her boyfriend. There was a small note in it from her that said: "Enjoy the grill". I was dumbstruck, and I guess pretty ashamed of myself for having assumed my wife had bought something for us we could ill afford. She has had a habit of buying things when I travel, and I guess I figured this had been another case of that. As you can see - it was something totally different. Then I remembered Celina, my daughter had visited us the day before father's day. When she found out I would not be home, but on the trip with Brendan, she wished me a Happy Father's Day and said my gift would be there for me later. I never imagined for a moment that she and her boyfriend had bought it for me until I read the card.

Our first barbecue with it was yesterday. Of course Celina, Kevin (her beau) were there, as was Brendan and Julia, one of Julia's sisters, and Linda and myself. Everything cooked on that grill tasted better than anything we had before. I don't know if it was the food, the grill or the fact that Kevin grilled it all. I do know it was great.

What a lucky dad am I to have 2 such thoughtful and wonderful children (young adults now) as I do.

All the best,
Glenn B