A good example of this was when my wife was about to go under the knife to get a fairly large abscess take out of her. At the time we didn't know what it was... endometrioma, a small alien, or, God forbid, cancer. I liked to call it her little alien love child - and then suggested that next time she keep her legs closed when getting abducted by aliens.
Now thankfully my wife loves me enough and gets me enough that she actually finds my nervous and poorly timed jokes slightly funny. It's one of the reasons I married such a wonderful woman.
However, there are things that I cannot take lightly. Things that I will never crack jokes and I will never be receptive to jokes, laughter, or humor.
My insecurities
I'm not talking about the insecurity of having a fat ass or a head of hair that makes it look like I'm sporting a 1980s curly trailer mullet... I'm talking about the insecurities that sit on the core of your soul... the ones you know you have but don't want anyone else to see.
My biggest insecurity is the fact that I have little confidence in being able to classify myself as a good father and/or a good husband.
You've got to understand that, to me, I suck at playing this game. I'm the poor uncoordinated fat kid that can't catch, can't run, and can't jump - AND always gets picked last in the game of fatherhood.
So what sparked the thought for this post
As some of you may know, I own my own business doing application development. With assisting around the house while my wife recovers from getting knives jabbed into her, I have had to displace some of the time that I normally dedicate to completing this very large project due in about a week. The time has now caught up to me and I'm in "uh oh" mode... which means I need to be balls-to-the-walls this weekend.
...which also means not spending lots of time with my family.
...which also means that I suck as a dad and husband.
To boot, we were originally going to drive down to Indy to visit some friends for the weekend and I would have been really screwed.
When I told my wife what had to happen this weekend... she did the thing that you're not supposed to do when I'm explaining that I'm going to have to work most of the weekend... when I'm admitting that I suck...
...she laughed
That's not funny.
"Because we were originally going to spend all weekend down in Indy... and then since we aren't going I was just expecting that you'd be spending time with us."
That's still really not funny and thank you for further rubbing in why I hated telling you to begin with.
I don't know why I'm so insecure about it. My kid smiles and my wife hasn't left me. I guess I must be doing something right.
But are you doing it "right" when you know there are so many things you do "wrong"?
Oh well, I'll finish my project this weekend and we'll have that much extra money in the bank for it. Maybe I'll buy her something nice. How wonderfully middle class is that?
1 comment:
Your wife might have laughed and your daughter smiles at you because they love you, pure and simple. We're all human, we all have things about ourselves we don't like, but you are doing important something for your family, providing for them. This makes you a very good dad and husband.
I hope this weekend isn't all work and you do get to have a little fun with your family. :)
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