When your day starts with breakfast in bed and the giving of gifts, you know it’s not going to be too bad of a day.

Wendi and the kids brought me french toast and bacon. I love bacon. Mmmmm, bacon. I also received a bunch of Father’s Day cards, both commerical and handmade. Add to that a stack of music CDs and you’re talking about a pretty good morning.

For the record, pardon the pun: Phil Collins’ “No Jacket Required” and “But Seriously,” and Sting’s “Brand New Day” and “All This Time.” One of the discs I already owned, but that’s okay. I was very touched and very happy all the same.

I spent most of the day playing games by myself, recouperating from the stresses of work and from the strange day Saturday turned out to be. At day’s end, Wendi went out and picked up a bit of chinese-ish food from Safeway as well as various pizza-like objects and a whole bunch of Henry’s root beer.

A side note for those who are interested: If you really want to butter me up then bring me Stouffer’s french bread pizzas, the pepperoni if you please. Thank you.

Another side note: Safeway’s chinese-ish food is really not all that great. As if you needed to be warned.

One more side note: Henry Weinhard’s is the best root beer on the planet, bar none.

I put in a call to my own father late in the evening. Some incorrect notions about the divorce needed laying to rest, and we talked about falling headfirst into major life changes. All in all, we had a nice chat.

The last event for the evening was a round of Boggle with all five members of the current household. Yes, even “grampa” got into the act. After a number of truly horrid rounds (“I can’t believe you managed to make that entire half all vowels!” alternated with “Um, how did you manage to only get one vowel?”) we closed out the game with the boys all well ahead on points. I won, of course.

Yet another side note: We play Boggle with slightly modified rules. To wit, the kids are the only ones allowed to write down or score from three-letter words. It forces the adults to really work for their words, and it ensures that the children will get a respectable score as long as they put forth reasonable effort.

After the Boggle game we shipped the kids off to bed, Grampa went singing, and that was pretty much the end of the day…

I can only hope that dads everywhere had at least as good a day as I did. Happy Father’s Day!

Birthday The First:

Say hello and a belated happy birthday to Dawn, who turned a year older on Tuesday. I wasn’t able to attend her birthday celebrations, so I can’t tell you how they went.

Birthday The Second:

Say hello and a belated happy birthday to Lilith, who turned a year older on Wednesday. I was able to attend her birthday dinner last night, the write-up of which is available at Mari’s thingie.

Should it worry me that they’re both into Neopets and purple things? Perhaps…

(Update: Argh. It’s just my luck that I link to their websites and Diary-X is down. Double-argh, since both of them are on D-X. Hey, another coincidence?)

(Update II, Electric Boogaloo: And what was up with that waitress, eh? The one who insisted I looked like her co-worker, John? And had to invite other waitstaff to stare at me in amazement? Not to mention her determination to fill me with liquor. Wow. I mean, she was nice and cute and all, but still. Weird stuff.)

(Update III, The Search For Spork: There, are you happy now, Your Imperial Highness? *smirk*)

(Update IV, Humpbacks R Us: Diary-X is back. Go forth and leave them happy birthday comments. Yes, that is a direct order, damn you!)

I joined first, then Wendi joined shortly after. The Portland Bloggers group on Yahoo, that is. Turns out they (or is that “we” now?) meet on the first Friday of each month, and have done so for over a year now.

This was our first opportunity to do so. Great timing, wot?

We had a good time, drank some Henry’s (root beer, good stuff) and chatted merrily with other local folk who feel inclined to pour their lives and loves onto the Web for all to see.

It’s a fairly good bet nobody there had read either of our sites before the meeting, which is a Good Thing since nobody was compelled to ask awkward questions. We all had fun, and that’s what matters.

At any rate, I’m now a member of yet another group. Socializing is a good thing.

How am I doing, people ask. I’m getting along, I reply.

It’s not easy. Of course it’s not. Dismantling a relationship that’s been a dozen years in the building isn’t something you do or take lightly.

On the plus side, I am doing the right thing. I very rarely doubt that. Also, Wendi and I are being very cooperative with one another, very supportive, and are communicating well. The children are taking things fairly well, but we’re still going to get them some counseling as soon as we can.

On the downside, between the (gradual, impending) divorce and the KWJJ/KOTK situation (and other things I’m not yet willing to talk about here) I feel like my entire soul is in a vice. My heart aches constantly, and that knot in my belly comes and goes in an almost whimsical fashion. Nevermind that rampant self-doubt and depressed introspection aren’t really contributing to a healthy worldview.

I’ll be okay. Eventually. I have to be, or none of this was worth it. Between now and “eventually,” however, I don’t expect to be happy much. That’s the way it works, folks.

Gee, I wonder what I’ll do for the PPF this week…