Out of the Ashes...

Movie Day and Letting Go

Ahhhh... I just had a day off (yesterday), and now, I’m gearing up for another (soon as I get a bit o’ snoozin’, that is).

Yesterday was “movie day.” Since I now work a full hour closer to home, it’s a lot easier to a few things I was unable to do before. It’s really amazing what two extra hours per day will do, isn’t it?

Such as more time with Da Boy. Yeah, man!

Oh, and it gets even better. Barb, Da Ex, decided to take a gig in town. Since her hours are pretty much 8 AM to 4 PM, that means on my days off I get the splendid excuse of spending even MORE time with Da Boy. Hey, why allow him to go to a babysitter when ol’ dad’s available on certain days, eh? Not a bad thing - no, not at all!

Well, okay. Maybe ONE bad thing. Ya see, when I took mini-me to see the new Trek, we were treated to the obligatory commercials. Oh, sorry - upcoming film trailors...tralers...whatever. One of them got his attention: Transformers 2.

Transformers were some kind of phenom when I was a wee lad, but I never got into them. Back then they were cartoons, and I do believe by the time they became the thing for kiddies to watch I was already entering my arrogant teen years.

You know what I find really odd about that today? One of my favorite guilty pleasures on TV these days is Clone Wars. Yeah... Wouldn’t watch Transformers and the like when I was a kid (heck, I was even too snobby for the cartoon version of Trek), but I will watch some of that kid stuff as a fully grown man. Sometimes, I really don’t get myself...

But sometimes I stick to my guns, man. When Transformers was released a couple years back I had no trouble refraining from joining the proverbial crowd. Go watch super large, interstellar robots change shapes and fight? Aw, HELL no...

Well, anyway, little Cam was all kinds of enticed about this Transformers film. Now that he’s eight, he did catch the “2" and wanted to know if I’d ever seen ol’ numero uno. Okay, he actually dug into my shallow mind by asking if I knew there was a first film. Stupidly, I admitted that I did. Ya know, sometimes that little boy can be quite girlie, because he got real silent for a few seconds. The kind of silence usually reserved for a woman making sure her man knows she’s displeased with...well...whatever.

Of course, old memories of once being hitched to one of those wimmin folk flooded back, and I did what I sometimes did back then: bowed my head, APOLOGIZED, and then asked if he wanted to see the first one. Just like them wimmin folk, Cam brightened up as soon as he got his way.

Obviously, the guns with which I stuck...are rusty. *bows head, sighs* Now I must keep my promise and watch the stupid film with Da Manipulative Munchkin. I will endure said torture later today...soon as I pick him up after school.

There’s something else I wondered recently. In fact, earlier today. I was chatting with an old friend, and he (yes, HE) easily maneuvered me into a discussion about our genetic semi-clones. I swear, now that I think of it, we were clucking like two old HENS while comparing notes on how we feel over certain things. One thing ion particular is we are both rather protective of our offspring. Not normally protective...OVER protective. As in, for example, I am dreading the day Cam moves into town and starts going places...ALONE! *gasp* man, I just can’t get over that. Very soon, he’ll be walking and riding bikes wherever he wishes without a parental protective detail.

And that really bothers me! Dad’s intimidating presence will now be a hindrance to his budding independence, and I find myself really NOT wanting to let go.

My buddy feels the same way about his two older children (he has five in all). So in the middle of our cluck-a-thon I stopped to ask him, “Dude. When did we become women??”

Aren’t the MOMS supposed to be worried over these very things, while we dads at least ACT as if we couldn’t care less (or are even relieved) at not having to be so bothered with playing secret service agents for our soon-to-be world leaders? Aren’t MEN supposed to LIKE it when the fruits of our loins start making their own decisions, rather than biting nails over “Where were you? Who’d you see? Did you talk to ANY strange adults...beyond your parents, that is?”

I’m kinda HAPPY Cam isn’t getting into sports like other boys his age. Why? Because he might fall down and scrape a knee OR get elbowed making some kind of goal OR get hit at the plate by a wild pitch. How pathetic am I?? Yet I’m just proud as punch when Cam reports he received a brutal beat-down by a GIRL that he dared to catch him...or picked on until she decided to give him the Kiss of War.

ARGH! I really need to man-up. Geez! He’s getting older, and he’s gonna need his space whether I like it or not.

Well...that’s all for today. My body hurts from loafing too long watching those Hollywood propaganda pieces. Time for a few hours of shut eye. Night night! *wink*