I love to go to a beach on Long Island called Montauk Point. It is where Peter Benchley got the idea for the book which became the Spielberg movie, ”Jaws”. A boat captain caught a Great white shark that weighed 4500 lbs. about 20 miles off of Montauk. Don’t worry! There are no sharks near the beach.
This has been our Father’s Day destination now for three years. I love it out there! Beautiful beaches with cliffs that are 30-40 feet high and the ocean is beautiful.
The weather did not cooperate but what can you do? It was foggy all day and the temperature was hovering in the high 60’s. My son couldn’t surf because the sea was quite violent. We still enjoyed ourselves doing the things that we like. Window shopping and buying. Eating and eating some more.
The day was going well until my wife asked me if she and our daughter could get a manicure. “It’s Father’s Day!”, I thought to myself but what can you do? Isn’t being a father about helping your family find their happy place? So off they went to the nail salon with the rest of us in tow. My wife assured me it would take all of twenty minutes. An hour later, I went over to the salon to find out what was going on. She apologized profusely, claiming that the salon did not tell her that there would be a wait.
While waiting, my oldest daughter and my son took her dog down to the beach, a fluffy white Samoyed. Now I love this dog. She is the friendliest dog you can meet. She will sit on a stranger’s foot and smile while they are petting her. She’s like having a movie star around. Everybody wants to stop, talk and admire her. But I am not big on wet, sandy white dogs in my new clean sparkling grey SUV and so I asked my daughter and son not to let the dog go into the water. So what do you think they did? Of course! Into the water goes my son and the dog. Out comes a sandy, wet happy white dog! But this produces an unhappy white father! The son comes running up the hill recognizing that he and his sister blew it. He apologizes profusely and follows me around like a puppy while I am trying to get out of this funk.
What can you do? Isn’t the job of a father to help your kids find their happy place?
Finally, I shake off all this and we enjoyed the rest of the day, eating and window shopping with some buying.
Father’s Day turned out great. I wished that the weather had cooperated but what can you do? Life doesn’t always go as planned. The truth is that it seldom does. As a dad and husband, I am trying to learn to go with the flow even when the flow is not going where I want it to go.
Conclusion. My wife and daughter got pretty nails. The happy dog dried off during the hour wait. My son and older daughter had fun. And I enjoyed everybody having a good time and I got to go to Montauk!