World’s Worst Father

That’s me.  I can’t even claim that I was overworked and distracted, because I was just sitting here looking at facebook and trying to think up a clever reply to somebody’s status and watching Early Edition on TV.   (Living in Europe, we get American programs like way after they’re over – I believe I’ve mentioned this before – anyway, the hero was talking on a big clunky cell phone and that was a major element of the plot, how cool the new technology was.  I’ve never seen this Two and a Half Men that everybody is talking about.)

O.K., maybe I'm not the VERY worst

Sam was in and out of the house like a Jack in the Box, and I was wondering if he would get home from playing football with the other kids in the neighborhood in time to go to football practice, which may sound a bit like overkill but I really prefer him being in an organized league because it’s supervised and he has real games and to tell you the truth, I think some of the kids in this neighborhood are scary, like in a not very positive role model sort of way.  To tell you the truth, they remind me of the kids in the neighborhood I grew up in, and that is not a good thing.

I totally forgot to pick up Isabel from pre-school.  Usually I go about 3:30, 4 is not considered late, but I was just sitting there at about a quarter to 5 when my wife called to say the school called and what the hell was going on.  Anyway, I got my shoes and coat on and was out the door in about 30 seconds and ran to the school, which is just about a minute away if you’re running, and they had Isabel ready and waiting for me, but she was not bothered a bit.

We even made it to football practice on time, after dragging Sam off the playground and yelling at him a bit, although I realized even as I was doing it that I was taking my anger at myself out on him.

I’m reminded of that scene in Raising Arizona (loved that film) where they left the baby on the roof of the car and took off.  Also, of an incident that happened when Sam was just a couple of months old.  We were shopping and he was sitting in the shopping cart, asleep.  We wandered down the aisle and left the cart behind.  He woke up and started crying and we ran back, very embarrassed.

O.K., all’s well that ends well and I’ll try to be more careful in future, but I suspect I’ve blown my father of the year nomination.