At Least One Father's Day

I knew that quick storm we had last night was not a normal storm. I even referred to it as scary and although we made out fine, I've come to find out that a whole lot of people around here lost many trees. Our friend Tom had thirteen trees drop in his yard- two on his shop! It was crazy! And I hear that the power was out for at least eight hours, twelve for Tom. I don't know if it was spawning little twisters or what, but it had a hell of a force behind it. I'm just grateful that all of our trees appear to be standing. I haven't heard a train go by all day long. I imagine there are a lot of trees down on the track in this area that they'll have to clear. 

So that was sort of crazy. 

The man came home a little early today. The seas were just too rough for them to really enjoy themselves. As Mr. Moon said, they are all old men who don't feel the need to fight that. I am so grateful that finally they appear to have gotten some common sense. He told me that before they came in they were catching beautiful grouper but it's not grouper season and they had to release them. He said it was like the old days so maybe the very strict species limits are working. I hope so. He also told me another story that freaked me out. He was watching a gull in the water when all of a sudden, something came up behind it and the next thing he knew, a large mouth filled with teeth tried to clamp down on the gull but the gull got away. He said it was a tiger shark. 
"Don't tell me shit like that!" I said. For some reason it has never occurred to me that there were tiger sharks in the Gulf. 
"They're no more aggressive than any other sharks," he said. "I think." 

This hardly reassured me. 

But he's back safe and sound and I've been very sweet to him although I almost always am anyway but extra special sweet today. I thought about what he might like that I could make so I've gotten out the ice cream maker and went to the Dollar General for cream and whole milk and they did have whole milk but no cream so I bought half-and-half and that will have to do. I made a recipe with egg yolks so it should work fine. It's one of those recipes that you actually make a sort of custard with the ingredients before you cool and churn it. It's plain old vanilla although why we call vanilla plain is beyond me. It is one of the best flavors in the world. 

When I met Mr. Moon, I don't think I really initially thought about what sort of father he might be, even in the vaguest, theoretical terms. He'd been married before and he had wanted children but his wife did not and I knew that was one of the reasons they went their separate ways. I knew he treated my two kids very sweetly but not overly sweet or artificial in any way. I knew immediately to my bones that he was a good man but to say that I had trust issues when it came to men is putting it microscopically mildly. There was a lot of testing going on, although I did not realize at the time that that was what I was doing. 

Poor man. 
He went to visit his family for Christmas very, very soon after we'd met and told his daddy that he was falling in love with me and his sweet, wise daddy told him, "Son, if she has children and you love her, you're going to have to love those children like they're your own." 
And when I did meet his daddy and mama and his sister and brother-in-law and their blended kids, I saw the way Glen's father interacted with all of the children, including my own, and you could not have identified which were related to him by blood and which were not if you had tried. His mother was the same exact way. They loved them all. 

Hell, they adored them all. 

So that went a long way to impress me and make me feel that this man was serious and he came from a family that knew how to love and did it well. And so, a few months later when he asked me to marry him, I really had no choice, did I? Because not only did I love him and respect him, but I loved the way he loved my children. 

And them BOOM, BOOM, BOOM- we were married, I got pregnant, he started a business, I graduated from nursing school, we had Lily...

Phew. 
It was hard, y'all. But we managed and his parents moved here from Tennessee and they helped us in so many ways, from setting up the business to taking care of children when we needed them. 

And he has been an amazing father. He has been there for our kids, all four of them, since he walked through my front door and continues to be there for them to this day. And of course, for their children. Anything they need that touches on one of his many, many skills or areas of expertise (and they are vast) they discuss with Daddy Glen first and he almost always is able to help them navigate whatever it is they need. 
I would have been shocked when I first met him to know how quickly and completely he would adapt to being a stepfather and a father. And being a stepfather has to be one of the hardest things in the world if it is done right. As is being a stepmother. He never took charge, but was always there to give me a sounding board, to give me his perspective which came from a place of a good and loving family, rather than my perspective which came from a place of an incredibly dysfunctional family.
When I told him that I would be wanting to have a home birth when I was pregnant with Lily, he let me take charge, trusting my choice, and he never once left my side when I was in labor and also- and this is of utmost importance- he did not go and get THE BIG KNIFE from the kitchen to kill me with although I did command him to do that a few hours before Lily was born. 
I was serious. 

But oh, how happy and proud he was when that girl child was born and I do think that seeing how hard I had to work to bring her into this world has stayed with him all these years. 

Oh, y'all! I should have started this post way earlier. But here. Let me give you some pictures. 

Boppy and Magnolia June

Boppy and Levon. I think. I could be wrong which is so embarrassing. But it's definitely Boppy and a grandchild. 

Boppy and Lily, Jessie, Gibson, August and Vergil

Maggie, Boppy, and Baby Levon

Boppy and August

Boppy and all the grandchildren

Boppy and two more incredible fathers that I know. 

The reason I fell in love. 

I would say a few words about my own father but the less said the better, bless his old drunk-daddy disappearing heart. 

The ice cream looks great. And now I'm going to go boil some crab legs and melt some butter and make some mustard sauce. I already made a lovely pasta salad with green beans and tomatoes and other delightful additions. 

Sweetness. And he deserves every bit of it. 

Love...Ms. Moon