Good news for fans of Bow Tie Rock – I’ll be going live on Facebook every Wednesday at noon for a series of concerts called Songs From Home.
Except for this Wednesday. Today. Because I’m a dad. Because real life.
This week, you can catch me on Thursday, November 14, at noon.
Every week following I’ll be live on Facebook Wednesdays at noon.
Mostly.
This week the public school system decided it would be a good idea to give kids two days off following the Remembrance Day holiday. That’s three days in total. Shrinking my “Lord of my own time” days from 5 to 2. I’d normally have the house to myself at noon today, but instead I’ll be helping a sleepy teenager get motivated and bracing myself for the return of another teenager who has just survived a double sleepover.
Dad life.
This is the life I chose. I have a song called “Would Not Trade”, and it’s mostly true.
“We could be out there in some beach house
The kids come running in with hand-fulls full of sand
Or maybe not – maybe we are travelers
We’ve got no family yet – we’ve got all of the time in the world”
Being a dad, even a dad of increasingly self-propelled teenagers means helping with studying, cleaning up messes, driving, making meals, more driving, motivating, encouraging, disciplining, arguing and more driving.
It also means watching my daughter dye her hair for the first time and get compliments from an elderly woman on her thorough sidewalk-shovelling.
Being a dad means listening in with pride while my son composes music of his own, or tells me how he handily served one of the biggest crowds on record at his new job.
Being a dad is often awesome. And even when it’s not, it’s really good songwriting material.
If all of this means missing a weekly commitment everyone once and a while, so be it. We can all wait until tomorrow.
Until then, enjoy last week’s performance.