A day for dad

[There are 3 posts for the price of 1 today... read on!]

Over the last nearly 5 years, the term "dad" has taken on much greater significance for me. Each and every day, I get to hear that word escaping from the lips of a special little girl. And most days, it still leaves me a little speechless. Me? Dad? Coming home from work and hearing someone shriek out "Daddy!" as I'm entering the house. Does it get much better than that? Oh, sure. Max barks continually and spends the next 3-5 minutes whining. But it's not really the same thing, is it? And Anita stopped shrieking upon my arrival many years ago. Guess the thrill is gone. :-)

This particular Father's Day was especially nice from almost the first moments of the day. I started out with a leisurely morning run and got caught out in a storm for a bit. But it quickly passed and the day did nothing but look up from there. Su woke up in a great mood and greeted me with "Happy Father's Day!" Then Su presented me with her special gift -- a White Sox balloon to float proudly around the house! And that was capped by a wonderful White Sox sweatshirt, which will be worn with much pride during cool evenings in the fall -- as we cheer on another World Series run (Sorry, Cub fans, but your pitching isn't going to hold in the 2nd half. Lilly? Marquis? Ha!).

We went out for late breakfast/early lunch at our favorite local diner -- called The Geneva Diner (surprise). Some of the best casual dining in the area, though. Breakfast and lunch only. The place was packed when we arrived. Probably a lot of dad's getting honored at this point in the day. But we were able to sit down at the counter -- a new experience for us. There was something rather neighborly about the whole experience. Overall, it was a very pleasant lunch.

We then took a little drive into Winfield to glance at the new house for a tiny bit. Saw the current owners and chatted for a while. All parties are quite excited right now. In 3 weeks, we'll be in the house and neighborhood we've been seeking (since we left back in '04) and the current family will be heading off to Phoenix to return to family, as well. We drove around, looked at the parks, the schools, and then daydreamed about the very near future.

We capped the afternoon with a top at Graham's in Geneva for some world-class ice cream. We finished up just moments before the rains hit again and headed home. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and enjoying some free time before the next work day would follow.

It really can't get much more special than this.