So I Was Thinking…
I was in the shower just a few minutes ago and I started thinking about what it means to be a Father… well actually I was thinking about a friend asking me about my opinion on what GPS to get for geocaching. I think I came to that thought because some of the wounds from my first geocaching expedition – which I didn’t know was going to happen and I was totally unprepared for anything but a casual stroll – started to sting in as the soap and water interacted with them.
I told my friend I had no opinion on what GPS to get. We went with a friend. Once. I as I said it was spontaneous. Sure, I downloaded an app for my iPhone, but I still haven’t figured out how to download a local listing from geocaching.com. They give a video, but I was with my wife’s family for lunch and it didn’t seem like watching a video was the appropriate thing do to. So I don’t know much about geocaching.
I don’t know much about finding things either. I’m going to be honest here – I have two boxes in my brain. One is common to man – as opposed to women, this really makes us different – let’s call it the “nothing” box. We could spiritualize it and call it meditation or soaking, but really all it is the ability to sit still and link – literally – about well, nothing.
It’s not a scam. We’re not covering up anything. As men we can easily think about nothing. It’s how we relax. It’s great to unwind. It’s not fantasy, it’s not escapism. It’s “nothing.”
But I have another box in my brain and that one is constantly thinking. I spend most of my time hear. Right now I’m thinking about 4 websites to create or update, 3 booklets, 2 novels to write and a screenplay to pitch. This is my “Creative Box” Sunday mornings seem to be when the creativity juices bubble up. I often dream up a new project or find solutions for problems I stopped at with other projects while I’m in the hot tub.
Our hot tub! It’s either got a leak or evaporating rapidly. I think I remember it happening once before when the lid wasn’t sealed and I wasn’t in it for a while to see it decrease. I’ll give it a couple of days to see if it gets noticeably lower. I’ve got to to change some deck boards anyway, so maybe I can rip it out. I’ll need to get someone to haul it away…
…why am I considering geocaching? I can’t find anything. I can look for something I know is in the fridge and if I’m in my creative box, I won’t see it or find it. I don’t know why they let people like me drive – cell phones nothing – I wrote the intro to a new booklet on the way out to pick up my daughter from horse riding yesterday, sure I could have used the voice recorder on the iPhone, but there’s something about pen to paper.
It’s the kids. That’s why I want to get into geocaching. My daughter can find just about anything. My son is pretty good at it to. I remember Taya was about 2 1/2 when she started finding things for me, my life got so much better. Getting stuff for Kaz became Daddy-daughter time and it cut down on my search time – as you can imagine, it takes me a while to remember what I’m looking for when I’m in the creative box.
Kian – when he’s board at church – looks for gold flecks and gems. He’s found some in places we’ve been — I have a stash in my Bible.
So kids are great for many reasons – most of which you’ll never hear in today’s sermon.
I’ve decided to make use of my creative box and take this blog back to it’s original purpose – my streams of consciousness. You won’t get auto posts from my other blogs, you may still get posts from YouTube – I can’t remember how I set up that feature but boy is it cool, you won’t get daily twitter updates.. I was going to do weekly, but I get overwhelmed with the posts, so why should I pass it on to you?
And if I get my act together, Sunday seems like a great time to post.
Happy Father’s Day dad’s. Make sure you thank the mother of your kids for making you one.
