Today, a Hallmark Day, a day created by the retail industry to increase business in any way they can get it, still it's somehow become an American tradition. Not feeding into this ridiculous holiday, we simply all spent the day together. My son Brad, famous for overextending himself, scheduled himself with 36 hours of obligations in only 24 hours and some of that had to be for sleep. His first text came at about 7:54 and it read, "U up?" I'd been up since about 6:30, but was just laying in bed reading emails on my new phone. I replied, "Kinda"... Then the phone rang and it was Brad calling from his position on the bathroom throne, where he explained that he'd spent most of the night with possible food poisoning. Then he explained that he couldn't rent the trailer we were going to rent, because he remembered that he promised Kylie, his step daughter, that he'd have breakfast with her and Max. See, Brad's a father and a step father too. Then, he was expected to be at the skating rink where Max is scheduled for his first summer league hockey game from 1:15 to 2:15, but I was welcome to come to that, but to dress warm. Dress warm??? It's supposed to be 115 today. Was he serious? Yes, he explained, it's about 45 degrees in the rink area and to bring a jacket.
I think the last time I saw young Kylie was Christmas of 07 and she was a feisty 18 years old. I was always fond of Kylie. She came into our lives when she was about 10 years old and I recall her always being likable. I didn't really expect to see her today, but was pleasantly surprised when I did.
After falling into a deep snooze in my reclining chair after eating a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast, I was rudely awakened by barking dogs, which I remembered was my "alert" I'd chosen for receiving a text message. The text said, we're in the bleachers up and to the left. I looked at my clock and it was 1:10 already. I leaped out of my chair and ran to my car where the temperature read 113 already and started driving to the skating rink. Good thing I left a jacket in the back seat from 6 months ago, huh?
After getting lost only once, I found the place just where they left it. I entered and found Brad sitting in the bleachers next to this tall thin shapely woman who turned out to be Kylie at 23 and all grown up! She gave me a warm welcoming and told me how she was 23 now, after I commented on how mature she was. Naturally I told her I was 66 and so went the early portion of the day.
As the afternoon went on, I became more and more impressed with what I saw. This young lady had blossomed into one of the nicest people I'd ever met. In addition to that, she had that maternal attitude towards Max, her young step brother,15 years her junior. Kylie is a junior at ASU and works a job at the same time, as a food server at an upscale Scottsdale steak house.
Watching about 20, 8 year old kids play hockey was quite an interesting afternoon. After that, it took about 20 minutes to get Max out of his equipment, when we headed back to Brad's house for Max to take a shower and wind down. I got to see Brad's outdoor kitchen I'd been hearing about and reunite with the two dogs.
From there we went to the Scottsdale Quarter for lunch at a sea food place who's name escapes me. I really don't like sea food, but was outnumbered by sushi lovers. Watching Kylie order wine reminded me of how long it had been since she was 10. I really enjoyed my Father's Day outing, but Kylie was the biggest surprise of all!
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