Kids Gone = Lonely Weekend - Part 1

Ahhhh, coming home from being out of town and knowing that my wife would be out of town for the weekend at a conference, what could be better than an entire weekend to spend exclusively with my three whippersnappers (17, 20, and 23). Yes, it would be just like the old days, with dad giving up his entire weekend just to have fun with his three favorite kids!

Driving home, I could feel the excitement building in me, as I envisioned many hours of Yahtzee, Scrabble, perhaps some chess, a pizza or two or three, and, of course, the non-stop flow of popcorn!

Uh, well, instead of just planning a great weekend in my mind, perhaps I should have let my kids in on the plan. As it turns out, based upon a variety of unusual factors that came together all in one weekend, it turned out to be a somewhat different weekend than I had planned!

When I was about 30 minutes from home, I pulled over and texted all three kids with the message, “Anybody up for dinner?” My middle child wrote back to say, “I am the only one home – what did you have in mind?” OUCH! How could this be? Why weren’t the other two at home waiting for me like they did when they were 3, 6, and 9?

I called my son to discuss going out to dinner, just dad and his three kids. He loved the idea, but we would have to wait for the other two to get home – one of whom was still rehearsing for his school play and the other of whom was teaching dance.

About 45 minutes after I got home, my youngest son walked in the door and seemed excited to see me! I told him of our plans to go out to dinner and he told me the following, “Well, tomorrow is the big dance at school and *** and I are supposed to get together to make matching t-shirts? Fine, I thought, but at what time? He told me that he had to leave in about an hour.

DARN! If my daughter could get home soon, we could duck out for a quick dinner before my son had to get to his textile making project. Before long, my favorite daughter walked in. I told her of her of my great, terrific, and wonderful dinner plans to which she said, “Well, *** is home from the Coast Guard for the weekend and I had planned to spend some time with him.” DOUBLE OUCH! She told me that she had to leave soon.

Well, alrighty then, this was not working as planned! Going out to dinner was quickly canceled and we agreed to get pizza before two folks had to disengage from the home environment!

Ah, yes, I couldn’t wait for the pizza to arrive, so that the four of us would have at least some time together, just like the old days when it seemed as though we had pizza every Friday night! The pizza arrived and ……. THERE WAS NO CHEESE ON THE PIZZA! ......... OUCH #3!!!!

Wow, Friday evening was just beginning and I was about to quickly lose two kids and now no cheese?!?!? What happened to the good ol’ days?

We ate the pizza anyway and then my youngest and oldest prepared to depart the household., Oh well, I thought, at least I’d still have my middle child with whom to have some fun …… or so I thought!


(Please come back next week for Part 2)


Paul W. Reeves