I hit Father's Day from two angles like most of you. I have a father and I am a father. Luckily for me I my father is still alive. Many of you have laid your father, and or both of your parents, to rest already. My three parents are still alive so I get to have them as important people in my life and get to celebrate them on the Hallmark holidays like Mother's and Father's Day. My Dad's been in my life for 58 years which is a lot longer then most people have had, and for that I am grateful.
And then I am a Dad, a Dad in varying degrees and titles. Biological Dad, adopted Dad, step-Dad, I think I've hit them all. But while some of you have buried a parent already, I've buried a son. That's for a different post. So there were seven children, now there are six. I brought four and Theresa brought three. Now we're tied up. Over the last three days I was able to see four of the six, which, as a Dad and a parent, is what you want more then anything. Or at least I do. You just want time. Well, actually you first just want to be remembered, and then you want time together.
I remember a time when people didn't miss things. Calendars meant something. Things were just a not-miss. There were cards and gifts. People made an effort to get a gift, pick up something for the party, and most important, were there in the flesh. These days credit is given for a one lined text or for some Costco appetizer or dessert you picked up on your way to a gathering. And the gifts? Ordered on Amazon a day before, if you get one at all.
I got the above text from one of my nursing students who sent it out in our class group chat. It made me smile. It took a little thought and work, even though AI did the heavy lifting.
One of things that always gets me is when I ask both mother's and father's what they are doing on said days. Most of the time it's, "Ask my kids", or "I haven't heard from them yet", and "They're asking me?", like, "Hey Dad, what are we doing for Father's Day?".
Yes, the truth is these "days" are kind of silly. We should cherish and remember our parents, unless they were your trauma, each and everyday. I guess for the shitty kids in the world at least they have to fake it one day a year. But for the other's I offer you this advice. Pick-up the phone. Make some plans. Put a few dates on the calendar per year. One day you'll wake up on these silly days and you'll be wishing one or both of them were still around.
And if you look at the picture of me and Dad up above you can see we look like we should be in an Abe Pieciak catalogue. He's the artist who made the shirts. Well the truth is we're so packed up I don't know where my clothes are so I was thankful he loaded me up with some MV swag. I was lucky to have something to wear, and something to give, to yesterday's Father's Day gathering.
I did receive a good Father's Day gift yesterday. It was the phone call we've been waiting for. Shortly before I left for the Vineyard we put our place down in Cape May up for sale. We had a sign in the window and I had put it on several Facebook pages. The calls and messages were sporadic. Yesterday, before we went to Dad's, we decided to lower the price....and Boom!
Father's Day must have been buy a place down in Cape May day because my phone and Messenger account blew-up. It was truly first come first buy. We had a guy who was down that way with his family who wanted to see it and he did. We leave the place open so he was able to check it out and inspect what he wanted and that was it. He sent a deposit and we'll get the rest in cash on Wednesday.
It was during July, 2020, when we towed our camper down to Holly Shores Campground in Rio Grande, just outside of Cape May, for a two-week stay. I was pimpin' at that time in a newer Ford F-150 and we had picked up the camper for $3,500 on, where else, Facebook Marketplace. While down there Theresa found Cape Island Resort and we decided to jump. In order to get it done we would have to sell the travel trailer and my pick-up.
We took some pictures of the camper and put it on Facebook Marketplace and I think in five hours it was sold. The lady drove down from north Jersey with a stack of hundreds and we were one step closer in getting into Cape Island.
We sold it for $5,000, which means it's one of the few good investments I've made in my life. When we got back up in Titusville the pick-up sold equally as fast. We're just movers and shakers like that.
In the end we paid $13,000 for it, and enjoyed it for the last six years. We put in some sweat equity in by installing the patio and the parking lot demo shed from Lowe's. The only money we sank into it was the rooftop air conditioner, which I think was $900.
As we prepare to make the move to South Carolina we realized we want to keep one foot in New Jersey, and Cape Island does just that. And hopefully, one day, the kids will realize what gold they have access to down there, and will start to use it.
So we bought a new place down in Cape Island. It's just around the corner from our current location. Bigger, solid hard topped Florida room, double loft for additional sleeping, and an office. It's also surrounded by trees which helps keep the place cool, there's no homes across the quiet street, and it's a good hang as we've always seen people having get togethers and campfires while we take Luke for a walk.
So to add a little more chaos to our lives Tuesday after work we'll had down to Cape May to pack up and make yet another move. There are so many moving parts that it's hard to keep track of it all. But soon, like in less then a month, we'll have sold one place and have purchased three other's. All the while knowing it could all come crumbling down if just one thing doesn't go as planned.