In my family I frequently find myself playing infrastructure support roles.  Making sure the car is unloaded, the washing machine is still running, picking up and cleaning off the lawn tools - all the things that pile up if you don't stay on top of them.   Since there is always more to do, I frequently find myself getting distracted - I start moving some stuff out to the shed and before you know it I am loading the truck for a dump run or hanging a coat rack.  From my families perspective I seem to periodically disappear. "Where's Daddy" is a refrain my wife has taught the boys to remind me that not everything needs to be done *right* now.

 

I come from a long line of savers and I don't move often.  These can be a paralyzing combination as I tend to amass projects and boxes which follow me around and whisper enticingly for endless organization.  Of course much of this stuff is priceless treasure or something my kids would find waaaay cool...if I could find it.  Too many times now my older boy has said something along the lines of "I'd like to fly a kite/read this book/have a compass etc." and my response has been "Oh, I have one of those...it's in a box somewhere".  This has been a consistent enough refrain that I have sketched out a whole series of children's books based upon the idea of a son and father finding cool things in the garage that dad has squirreled away.  Unfortunately the caretaking of my collection has pre-empted any efforts at writing or illustrating said books so far.

 

This week my youngest came up with a refrain my wife decided will go on my headstone should I pass before her.  I came back inside from some crucial sojurn to the shed to my wife and son playing the following game:

 

Wife: "Where's Daddy?"

Son: "He's in a box!"

 

I think I'll clean out the storage shed this weekend.