On the other hand

On the other hand

“Happy birthday, Daddy,” Beau whispered at the side of the bed. It was barely light, so I grabbed him and snuggled him in next to me.

“Thank you, sweetheart, now let’s go back to sleep.”

Two seconds later Chicky arrived and jumped on top of me, hugging me through the doona

“Happy birthday, Daddy, happy birthday John Meyer.” Wise guy.

I dragged him in on the other side of me. “Thank you, handsome. It’s early, let’s sleep.”

That is where the sickly cuteness stops on this particular birthday.

The men started to wrestle at this ungodly hour. They were kicking, pushing, shoving and I knew it was going to end in tears, though whose I wasn’t quite sure. After repeated requests to stop and to cease pulling the blankets off me, a cement head cracked into my nose.

With the faint blue light coming through the blinds, I lost my temper and one by one the bed emptied in tears. I followed Chick to his mum’s room to apologise for yelling at him.

“Happy birthday. What happened?”

“Thanks, the usual.”

I picked up Chick and he wrapped his legs around my torso and arms around my neck.

“I’m sorry for yelling, Chick, but you guys were going crazy and it’s so early.”  I kissed his head. “Love you.”

“Love you, Daddy,” he sobbed.

I was going to leave the family a bit earlier so I could catch up with some mates before the sun went down, but Dawn wasn’t well and the boys needed dinner and bathing so I didn’t make it.

It was time to cut the cake. When the candles were blown out and chocolate wedges delivered to little hands, I sat back to eat mine and realised I was sitting alone. Dawn was back in the kitchen and the boys ran off to the other room.

I pressed a chocolate crumb with my finger and stuck it into my mouth. I wanted to erupt, “Geez, guys, I’m sitting alone here”.

I drove home and breathed in some red with my sister. It wasn’t the end of the world. I have a charmed life with the men, this was just one of those days that keeps me on my toes.

By JOHN MEYER

You May Also Like

Comments are closed.