Fathers' Day at Taco Bell

Hello Phantom Blog Readers!

I have not posted in several weeks and feel that I have neglected the process. I am the primary benefactor of these journal entries so perhaps it is time for me to write! Today is Fathers’ Day 2007 and we certainly are enjoying the day! My daughter living in Sydney is home, my son attending school in Denver is home, my son working and studying in Manhattan is home, my Marine stepson just returned from South America and is home, and my step-daughter who works and lives from home is home. Only my daughter volunteering in Zambia must miss this day. I would say I am a pretty fortunate Father!

I even was able to celebrate another Fathers’ Day with my Father….how cool is that! My brother’s family met us at the local Taco Bell to have lunch with my parents because that is my Dad’s favorite place to have lunch on Sundays! Our party certainly entertains the workers and “normal” patrons at this simple little restaurant. We have no trouble with waiting for tables, the food is VERY inexpensive, and even my wife can find some nachos and cheese to eat!

While everyone has negative “stuff” that is a part of life, everyone, and I mean certainly everyone that lives in the USA, is pretty fortunate to live as they do. I am not glossing over the bad things about our society, things that truly should not happen in this great country. However, compared to how things have been in the past, how things might be in other parts of the world right now, and how things could be a whole lot worse for everyone right now, we live in a time and place that is just plain good. Not perfect, not as good as it should be, or could be, not as good as it might become, but really good.

I am fortunate to have a fairly functional family, to have work that is generally enjoyable that provides me with the funds to certainly meet all of my needs and grant even some of my wants, to live in a community that is reasonably safe and pleasant, to have the freedom to act mostly as I please, and to not be too concerned about the future. There are literally billions of people on earth that would gladly switch places with me. Of course, they are unaware of the high taxes that I have to pay, and most of them would not stand for the level of taxes that Americans generally accept without much complaint. Oops, that is a whole another blog…back to the theme at hand. I don’t want to trade places. I know I am fortunate, and am thankful to be a citizen of the USA, even in its imperfection. It is part of my duty as a citizen to make my society, and country, better.

Thanks Dad, for choosing to have children in your life, in your home, in this community, in this USA. Without your decision to become a Dad, this son of yours might have started life in a much less fortunate condition.