Working at being a DAD

We all have our rolls to play in starting a family. Jessie, as it turns out, gets hers with a *superpower*. It’s one of the things that can happen, evidently, when you become pregnant: your sense of smell gets really sensitive. Hers was already better than mine, which is very, very bad. Now it’s upgraded to downright *legendary*. Literally legendary. People have written epic poems about her olfactory sense. There was some lunch meat that was a little old and I wasn’t sure if it was good, so I had Jess smell it. She made a face and then threw it away. Superpowers!

I on the other hand, am trying to become a DAD.


Take that, debris!

This is my first attempt at proper Dad-hood. Not fatherhood. Being a father is easy. Genetics start the process and everything else goes kinda automatically. Not being a dad. That’s a much harder process. (I still remember some random box with a cover on the top that we had back in, I think, Kentucky, that said “Anyone can be a Father, but it takes someone special to be a DAD." True words.) Anyway, I figured being a dad involves power tools, and I’m pleased to say that I’ve managed to use all the of cool power tool set that dad got me for my housewarming present. The circular saw got used a while ago to cut off a plank of cedar for the cedar plank salmon I grilled up. Very tasty. A week or so ago a storm knocked a medium-sized branch off a tree in the backyard and I got to use my reciprocating saw to chop it down into trash-can-sized pieces. So I own power tools and I can use them. That makes me kind of a Dad, right?

I was pondering this on Saturday while tinkering around in the kitchen. “How am I going to be a good provider?” I thought while I put a load of shortcakes in the oven (they didn’t come out great). “What kind of things could I do for a family?” I asked while taking out the shortcakes and putting in some biscuits (they were pretty good). “What possible skills could I present as a dad?” I pondered while the biscuits came out and the scones went in (they were fantastic!) “Well yes,” I reasoned, as the scones came out and the chicken pot pie went in, “I guess there’s always baking.”

Man I am good at baking. I am so good at it, you have no idea. I can make different kinds of bread, quickbreads, cake, you name it. What do you need. Pizza dough? Pizza dough? Are you kidding? I make the best pizza dough that I’ve ever accidentally dropped on the table. I make it fast, I make it good, I make it fresh. Dads can bake, right?


zzzzzzz

Dads also play video games while wives and cats sleep next to them on the couch.

Man I hope I’ll be good at this.

-N