Happy Father's/Birth/Day

June 17, 2018: Mark celebrates Father's Day and his 50th birthday.

Fifty years ago this coming Thursday, June 21st, Mark was born in Davenport, Iowa. He is more stunned than anyone that he's been alive for a whole half-century, given the myriad bad choices he's made throughout most of his life. Quite frankly, he never believed he'd make it to his 40th birthday, let alone ten years beyond. Nonetheless, here he is now, more than six years clean and sober, finding that he's really enjoying the life he knows today.

We were also a little shocked when Sarah commented, "I can't believe my dad is only ten years older than my husband." What?? But she's right. Mark turns 50 this week, and Chris turned 40 in March. (Sarah is 28.) So odd to think that Chris is closer in age to Mark than I am, with me being almost 14 years older than Mark. 

Mark requested Sarah's Mexican chicken casserole for his special dinner.

The last time Mark had a family birthday party in our home that wasn't combined with a Father's Day celebration was way back in June 1989, four months before Sarah was born. Since he became a father, we've always combined the two, since Father's Day always falls between June 15th and Mark's actual birthdate, June 21st. This year was no different.

I asked Mark what he'd like for his celebration dinner and dessert. He chose Sarah's most famous dish, Mexican chicken casserole. I was down with that, since it's a family favorite, plus it meant I didn't have to do the cooking! The 9 x 13 pan of deliciousness disappeared in no time flat. Scraped clean.

For dessert, he asked for an ice cream cake. Specifically, he chose a banana-split flavored ice cream cake, since he's a connoisseur of fine banana splits.

Most of Mark's gifts and cards.

After dinner, it was time to open gifts. This time, instead of taking a picture of Mark alone with all of his gifts, I decided to take pictures of Mark with his gifts and each of the givers, so at some future time we can have fun seeing who gave him what.

Mark wrestles through the tape on one of my gifts.

Jacob lives closer now, but still not close enough to drop in for our party. He did call his dad today to wish him a happy Father's Day. After they were done, I took the phone, and Jacob told me what he's thinking of buying for his dad. Jacob plans to drive up and join us this Thursday night, to spend Friday and Saturday here with us (those are his days off). He'll bring Mark's gift with him then.

Mark loves his chocolate. This was from Sarah and Chris.

Dylan presents his dad with his gift: a new fishing license.

Sarah and Chris with Mark and their gifts to him: the Mr. Goodbar candy,

a $30 Walmart gift card, and a monkey card that Mark thought was hilarious.

It's so hard to buy gifts for adults! I decided on the Jenga game because our kids love playing games together, but Mark rarely joins in. He enjoys card games and dice games of chance, but if it requires reading or solving clues or designing strategies, he's not interested. I figured Jenga was more about action, with opportunities for laughter that we could all share. When he opened it, I was surprised to find out that Mark has never played Jenga before. It just might turn out to be a good game for some family hilarity!

Mary with Mark and her gifts to him: a "Punisher" tee-shirt,

a 1-lb bag of mini-Snickers bars, and a Jenga game.

Our weekly Sunday dinners are always fun, but it's even more special when there's someone to celebrate. Despite the long-time addictions that haunted our seventeen-year marriage, I can honestly say that Mark was a good dad. He was very hands-on with our kids, getting down on the floor to work and play with them, changing diapers, sharing his food with them, cleaning up their messes, taking them to the park or fishing or shopping, and overall enjoying being together. He rarely had the heart to even discipline them, so Daddy was always their favorite (making me the "mean" parent, lol). He was so proud of our kids, and they loved to be with him.

Happy Father's Day, and happy birthday, Mark!

This was a random picture by Dylan, but I'm adding it because it seems to 

capture one of those typical at-home moments. Mark is taking his gifts to

his room, Chris is eating a slice of ice cream cake, and I am...not sure what!