10-08-2006, 10:26 PM

Well, we had a great visit with my in-laws. My MIL actually stayed an extra day in order to watch Luke (my oldest....6th grade) play soccer. Because my in-laws raised three boys, they are really a valuable parenting resource for DH and I. I have my moments with both of them when they get on my nerves or whatever, but mostly, they are a huge encouragement to both of us, and my boys are *nuts* about them. We will be going to see them in KS over Christmas....it will be the first time we have been there since we have moved to Indiana. One of DH's brothers also lives in the same town with his wife and two little ones, so it will be a great visit.

After my MIL left, my Dad was here for one night. Cliff's Notes version of what is up with my Dad: He is a Depression baby and was a very spoiled only son, the only boy that lived (two others died) and the much younger brother of two sisters. He is a very charming man and an excellent musician. He is a retired high school band director and will play his trombone or sing anywhere, anytime he is given the opportunity. He has played with dance bands on weekends his entire adult life. He has been married three times. The first marriage did not last very long and produced no children. The second marriage, to my mother, (a high school student of his.....she is 13 years his junior) lasted 12 years and produced four daughters. They were divorced when my youngest (severely handicapped) sister (I am the oldest) was just over a year old, but there had been infidelity on my Dad's part going on for about two years before my youngest sister was even born. My Dad's third marriage was to the woman he fooled around with during his marriage to my mother.....this lady was also a former student of his. She is *23* years younger than my Dad. They were married about a year after my parents' divorce, and eventually had two children, a girl first, and then a boy. My step-mother asked my Dad (on his 74th b-day) for a divorce last February, after 27 years of marriage. The reasons why are complicated, but infidelity on her part is involved. She chose to make her move just four months before her daughter (my half-sister) was getting married. Nice timing. My Dad chose to move to FL when it became clear that his marriage was over. He has worked off and on since he retired from teaching, but now he is pretty much totally retired and figured that there would be more opportunities to play in FL than there are here, which has turned out to be true. He drives up here (in a baby blue Mercury Grand Marquis.....Florida package ) whenever some of his old Indiana band cronies line up enough playing jobs to make it worth his while, and that was the case this past week. So he was here Friday night. I hadn't seen him since early July, so I was looking forward to his visit. Absence DOES make the heart grow fonder, because although I remember feeling as though I might have to strangle him towards the end of his TWO WEEK July visit, I somehow had forgotten that having him around is like adding a fourth child to my household. My Dad is one of the most shallow people I have ever known. He is so transparently self-involved that it is almost funny, but somehow he manages to work things so that you feel almost honored to be doing absolutely everything for him.....he doesn't even like to make his own toast! Friday night, after a very LOOOOONG week, I cooked dinner for all of us, including an apple pie. He was very appreciative, (he always is!) and I felt good about having gone to the trouble, even though I was dead tired. I was hoping to make it an early night......but Dad wasn't done with me yet! First, he had to explain to me, in *excruciating* detail, the intricacies of a "hot new game" he had discovered......Sudoku. Then it was time to hear of his musical exploits. In Florida, he has been making the rounds and playing in every venue he can in order to make connections and get paid gigs. He has become a regular at a Thursday night "jam session" at a local Elks Lodge, where anyone who shows up can play along for the night. The jam session is run by a keyboard guy who goes by the name of (wait for it.....)
"Mr. Lucky". My dad *just happened* to have a video tape of himself jamming with Mr. Lucky and assorted cohorts, so that is how I spent the rest of my Friday night. DH sensibly escaped and went to bed. The one good thing that came of it was that I was able to snag Mr. Lucky's business card (my Dad had an extra one). It features a color picture of Mr. Lucky in full regalia.....a ruffled shirt and baby blue tux! Gotta love it. So anyway, my Dad is in hog heaven down in FL, he is completely over his marriage, and I enjoyed visiting with him, but was quite happy to send him off the next morning after feeding him his toast and coffee!

The rest of the weekend was fairly relaxing and uneventful. We had beautiful weather, and were able to get out and take a walk both yesterday and today. DH was on call but had no deliveries until tonight, and didn't even have to round this morning. The laundry is done, and I have signed all the papers I needed to sign for the kids and gotten them all back into the right backpacks. My first choir concert is next Tuesday night, the 17th. I am feeling the stress build a little bit, and am trying to fight it. I think everything will go fine, but it will be nice when it is over and I have the first one behind me.

Tomorrow after school, I am doing the gifted enrichment program I run every other week at the boys' school, and then my oldest has a home soccer game (last one! ) at 4:30. Joel (8 and in 3rd grade) has his final soccer game (he plays for a city league) at 6:00, so DH and I will likely be tag-teaming to get everyone where they need to be at the correct times. Having soccer over with will be such a relief......I hope we will have at least a couple weeks off before basketball begins! Thursday night, I have my first graduate workshop, (because I had let my teacher's license expire during my years at home.....mostly because I had no idea where we were going to end up....I am teaching on an emergency permit and have to earn six graduate hours to renew my license before August of 2007) which OF COURSE takes place on a day that I have to work all day (teacher in-service in the afternoon....my principal wants me there and they are paying me extra to be there all day). It is also the same day as "family night" for Luke's classroom and to top it all off, DH is on call. So I will dash out of my in-service, pick up a babysitter, pick up the boys from school, take them all home, drive like hell to my workshop, and hope that DH can handle the rest. Oh, did I mention that it is supposed to be cold and rainy that whole day, and snow is even being mentioned for that evening?

If I make it through all of that, though, relief is in sight, because DH is off this coming weekend and we have NOTHING planned.....except for a babysitter on Friday night! We haven't been out alone in a while.....it will be nice just to hang out together.

I was hoping DH would be home from his delivery by now.....but I guess not. Time for bed for me, though!
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Wife of an OB/Gyn, mom to three boys, middle school choir teacher.

"I don't know when Dad will be home."