Outside of spending as much quality and quantity time with my two girls (my wife and daughter) as possible, I have also picked up a few hobbies that help me wash away the stresses of daily life.
WoodWorking
Oh yes, I have been the proverbial weekend warrior; but now I have graduated to a new level of skill. It's enough skill to be dangerous and not enough to build a house.
It really started when I wanted to provide my wife with some raised flower beds so she could garden, a great passion of hers, with some soil that would actually sustain flowering life. So I called Paul, a close family friend, who is a natural craftsmen. He showed me how to build a simple raised flower bed. The love affair of building with wood began.
Since that time I have added many more raised flower beds, and with the aide of Paul, a wonderful benched arbor.
Along the way I have developed a passion for building with wood and have expanded my craft.
Gardening
Well, all this wood working to provide a place for my wife and daughter to garden has turned me into a bit of a green thumb as well. I have started becoming addicted to creating seedlings for my wife in our hothouse. It has allowed some special time for my daughter and I. She is my helper. She fills the trays with starter dirt, puts the seeds in, and helps me water them daily. Yea, she actually does all the work while I supervise. (working on my supervisory and managerial skills)
Riding the Harley
Wives never stop surprising you...this past Father's Day, my girls bought me a Harley-Davidson. I was shocked, dumbfounded, and in utter disbelief. But when the wife brought the keys to me, it was suddenly real. There was a method to her madness.
Being in sales for 15 years, I've always tried to think ahead, and creating contigency plans, one after another, just in case certain events happened.
This behaviour is not conducive to being an "in the moment" father or husband. So, riding the Harley has taught me to be in the moment. Zen. I cannot think of anything else, cannot answer the phone, cannot worry about issues that happened during the day. And by the time I get home, I am focused on the family.
As a result, I am more productive. Thank you girls.
