A simple Father's Day

I wanted Father’s Day to be special for Jon. All he wanted to do was go for a bike ride and hang out with the kids. But when I woke up Sunday morning, the last thing in the world I wanted to do was go for a bike ride.

I’ll spare you the gory details; let’s just say that whatever I had inside didn’t want to stay there. But I wasn’t going to let a little thing like the stomach bug stop Jon from having a nice Father’s Day. Besides, I couldn’t spend the whole day in bed, if only because I had to go work later that afternoon. When Jon’s aunt got to the house to watch the kids, we geared up and set off on our bikes.

I should have known how the ride was going to turn out when I tried to get on the bike. I guess my balance was off from being woozy and when I tried to get myself up on the seat and start peddling, I fell. Not to worry, I got back and tried again, this time with success. We road about three miles before I had to stop. I was sweating, not from excursion, but from sickness. I took a sip from my water bottle and my stomach clenched.

Words of encouragement poured out of my darling’s mouth, “Come on, even the old people are passing us.”

I got back on my bike and made it another two miles before I couldn’t go any further. I had to go home. Now. I told Jon to go on without me, I was going to turn around. But, he didn’t want me to ride alone, so he came home with me.

That’s about 10 miles on a queasy stomach. Not too shabby, right?

After we got home, he went out and got me some ginger ale. At that point, I realized work wasn’t in the cards, so I called the best person in the universe and she agreed to work for me.

Jon spent the rest of the day with me, Sophia, Ryan and Jonathan just hanging out and playing video games. After we put the kids to bed, I also went to bed. Before I fell asleep, Jon sat next to me and gave me a hug and said, “Thanks for such a great Father’s Day. Thank you for hanging in there with me, even though you didn’t feel good. I think it was great of you. Now get some sleep.”

It may not have been the more wonderful or exciting, but, really, I couldn’t have asked for a better ending to the day.