EL DIA DE LOS PAPAS

Yes, it’s Potato Day!

Not really. It’s Father’s Day, which can be construed to be Potato Day to the extent that we Daddies are also Couch Potatoes.

Gotta love Father’s Day. This one is especially sweet because I am back home with SWMBO, on whom I have sired two daughters. And she even gave me a card, in effect thanking me for having done so! Schweeet.

I have enjoyed this day mightily.

Woke up at an unGawdly hour, what the Mistress of Sarcasm would call the Butt-Crack of Dawn. Must be I’m still on Atlantic Daylight Time after two weeks in the Maritimes.

Went to minyan this morning, accompanied by SWMBO. Led the morning service. Followed this up by joining the Minyan Boyz for a late breakfast - uncharacteristically, at IHOP instead of the Local Bagel Emporium. Variety!

Called my Dad to wish him a happy Father’s Day. In turn, got calls from Elder Daughter and the Mistress. I have already mentioned the card I received from SWMBO, but what I did not mention is that it was the exact same card this estimable gentleman received from the Velocibride. Synchronicity!

Reconfigured my router, which had somehow beshit itself in my absence, leaving chez Elisson bereft of Internet service. The horror...the horror! But I fixed it, all without availing myself of Tech Support. Utility!

SWMBO treated me to a fine Chinese dinner at Canton Cooks, perhaps the most authentic Cantonese restaurant I have seen outside of Hong Kong or, for that matter, Canton itself. Chose to forgo the braised sea cucumber and duck web, zeroing in on the Peking duck instead. They do it up in two courses here - Phase One, the crispy duck skin, presented on a huge platter with krupuk, those Indonesian-style fried shrimp puffs, and accompanied by the traditional Hoisin sauce, shredded scallions, sliced cucumber, and pancakes - and Phase Two, the remaining duck meat, sautéed with Chinese vegetables. [Order in advance and you get Phase Three: soup made from the duck meat and bones.] There was also a won-ton soup made with baby bok choy and shrimp- fish-stuffed won-tons in a savory broth. Tasty!

And now we’re home, relaxing in front of the Boob Choob, the Missus and I. I am thinking of the Joys of Fatherhood, the privilege of having children I am proud of and whom I love. They are joys that I could not have imagined only days before SWMBO presented me with our firstborn, but which made themselves manifest immediately, directly, powerfully. In my life I have received no finer gift.