A blog by Ralphie Marino
This past weekend, it was time… time to get it done. I have been dreading it since October 1st….
Get the pumpkins and carve them. 
The backstory….I am a klutz, have zero coordination, and cant even color inside the lines, let alone carve a pumpkin. It was always my ex-wife who carved and did the crafts with the big kids when they were little and the little ones I have now. I was the cheerleader because she and the kids did not want me to get hurt!! But I have the babies now, so….
The 6AM Saturday weekend wake up was just a bit more exciting…the kids not knowing I was up until almost 2AM (which is very rare for me) so it was Nick Jr. and Lucky Charms out of the bag until I got my wits together. Thank goodness I remembered to set the coffee pot!
We get going to meet my friend and her kids (they all go to school together) get the pumpkins, the carving kits, and away we go. The whole time I am thinking “these are going to come out bad, real bad”. What I should have been thinking at that moment, and did later “so what, they came out bad (you can be the judge) we were all out of the house and doing something together”.
It was pure pandemonium with all these kids and trying to carve and dig out the pumpkins, which was gross. I’m getting frustrated, because I am doing it lousy (RE: backstory)
Then I realized something…
The kids are counting on me to get this done with them. They don’t know in my head I am a little (Truth: A LOT) overwhelmed with the fact that I am alone with them, I can’t do this well, and I never have been able to do it well. They are not supposed to know that, and as a parent that is doing this alone, there are times that I fail miserably and times I succeed. Today I was going to succeed!! Once I got that we were doing something as a family, and they were having fun, I took a deep breath, and felt peaceful.
We got the pumpkins carved, the big kids helped the little ones, and they came out…well, you’ll see.
When we got home, they put their pumpkins on the stoop and quickly konked out. After prayers, my son said to me…”thanks for a great day Daddy, I could tell when you started having fun, you’re a funny Dad.”
I learned a few things…
- I still can’t carve pumpkins that well
- Breathing is good
- Kids notice a lot more than we think
- As parents that are doing this alone, it is important for the kids to think we are not alone, no matter what you feel.
6AM came quick again Sunday…I was up late again…
Cheers!
