Usually I celebrate Father’s Day with my “Big Kids” on Sunday, just like most people do around the Nation.
Of course, I’m the center of attention, the ✨STAR✨ of the show, and they serve me, as it should be, right?….
…..while I lap up the good service, and simply bestow my years of wisdom upon their eager ears (when I can get their attention)!!
But this past Father’s Day started on Friday and didn’t wind down until about 11 p.m. on Sunday night.
What made it different and meaningful and longer than usual was the way I spent each day of the weekend with people (family and friends) I care about the most here in Seattle.
And they care about me too. 😊
I represent a father, a father figure, or a friend to each of them, depending on how they see me.
Friday Evening
I have a female friend who is young enough to be my daughter. She is from Africa and is Muslim and we’ve been friends for a few years now.
I don’t know if she considers me as a father figure or a friend or both but she once chided me, saying, “You’re old enough to be my great-grandfather”. I retorted, “I’m not that old!”
She’s very resourceful, smart, and self-sufficient but sometimes needs and deserves a little help. I’m blessed and glad to be able to help her.
So, on Friday, she was celebrating the end of Ramadan, known as EAD, and asked me to stop by and meet her friends and eat some of the food they had prepared for the evening. I visited with them for a short time and then left. She gave me a big portion of Benachin, Chakri, cheesecake and tea to take home with me. I had some of it the next morning for breakfast.
She knows I “eat to live” but also “live to eat”. It’s a real treat for me to try new dishes from any country. However, this is not the first time I’ve eaten Benachin and Chakri. I love both of those dishes.
Saturday
On Saturday, I had planned to spend most of the day with another friend. She came to Seattle about 13 years ago, about the same time I arrived. But I didn’t meet her until about three years ago. Jes and Jen (we call them The J’s), my son and daughter-in-law, met her first. She was living in the same high-rise as them in Seattle. Then they introduced her to me and she and I became friends.
Her name is Kay and she was the Director of Hotel Operations at the waterfront Marriott Hotel in Seattle.
But she got a promotion. She now is the Resident Manager of the Chicago Downtown Marriott Hotel on the Magnificent Mile. She was leaving soon for Chicago.
I wanted to give her a big send off on Saturday, in celebration of her new promotion, our friendship, her upcoming birthday and Father’s Day.
So I bought tickets for the two of us to take a Kenmore Air “Flight-seeing Tour of Seattle” in a floatplane. It’s a 20-minute flight at a magnificently low level around the Seattle area and the Puget Sound.
Kenmore Air flight over seattle
(Click above to see a short video segment of the flight)
I love the beauty of the Seattle waterfront. From that vantage point, the beauty of all of it makes my senses hyperactive.
It’s almost as if I can see, hear and smell the Sound!….What ?!?!
The float plane takes off from Lake Union (one of my swimming holes),
flies over Gasworks (sorry, didn’t get a focused shot here),
heads North over Greenlake and the Shoreline area,
then cuts across Lake Washington to Kirkland and Bellevue,
then right by the UDUB (University of Washington) area,
and then over to West Seattle and Alki Beach.
Then it turns North again and flies over Magnolia, Discovery Park and Shilshole Bay,
After that it cruises over Puget Sound
and heads toward downtown Seattle.
The finale takes you right over the top of Seattle
and lands back at Lake Union (seen here just beyond the downtown area), where it taxis to the Kenmore Air takeoff/landing dock.
I think it’s a great gift to give to someone for any special occasion. I was happy to find out that this was her first time to do this.
I talked to the pilot before the flight and asked if Kay could sit in the co-pilot’s chair. He agreed in advance. (Normally, just before take-off, he asks the group, “Who wants to sit there?” ). There is no co-pilot so the seat is always empty.
So she got to sit up front!
It’s a cool flight over Seattle and everyone gets a window seat to take pictures and see everything well. Check out kenmoreair.com, if you are interested in doing the tour.
So after the flight, we hopped into my “purrrrty cat” (I have an old Jaguar XK-8, rag-top) and headed to my house, with the top down.
Earlier that morning, before the Kenmore Air flight, I was making a birthday cake for Kay, in the shape of the Marriott Hotel she would be in charge of when she got to Chicago. I wanted to surprise her.
I had built it up to five floors and noticed it was starting to lean a little. So I reinforced it by inserting a pair of chopsticks down through all 5 floors. Then I went to the fridge for something.
As I turned back around, I saw it topple!😩
There were no survivors!! It wasn’t recoverable.
Since I didn’t have time to start all over, and I couldn’t call 911, I put it in the fridge to show her my attempt, at least, and to eat some of it later on.
I guess, “She couldn’t have her Hotel cake and eat it too!”
After we got to my house, I started cooking. I butterflied the filet mignon and broiled it to medium rare. I made risotto with spinach, scallops and baby shrimp. Then I added steamed broccoli to complete the menu.
The weather had been so beautiful and it lasted through the afternoon and evening too, so we ate dinner out on my back porch. I just love eating outside. (I wish I had thought to take picture of that for this post.)
We talked about her upcoming new adventure. Kay is from Chicago so she was really looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends, and to her new responsibility at the Marriott.
My kids and I are sorry to see her leave Seattle but glad for this new opportunity she’s been given. She’s very savvy, fashionable, and entrepreneurial. She’s going places! 😉
Sunday
The next day, Father’s Day, I had planned to spend most of the day installing flooring in a ranch home that my son, Tim, and daughter-in-law, Pauline, had just bought as a rental property. There were just a few things that needed to be fixed to make it ready to rent out. But they always take longer to do than you think they will.
But “PETE”, (my new nickname for Pauline, Evie, Tim and Ellis),
Pauline’s Mom and Pop, Pauline’s brother, Junior (on the right), Pauline’s sister Samantha and Samantha’s boyfriend, Matt (to the left of Junior), and my grandson, Ellis (in his Dad’s arms), and my granddaughter, Evie, in the front……
……..were all in Hawaii for a couple of weeks to celebrate Samantha’s birthday. So Tim couldn’t be here to complete the work that needed to be done.
They had made the Hawaii trip plans a long time ago and didn’t expect to close on the house just before they left for Hawaii. So it was bad timing.
So Tim asked his friend Dan, and me, to carry the load while he was getting “tanned and beautiful” on the shores of Waikiki. (Well, tanned anyway!)
There’s something a little bit off about that, dont’cha think?
Dan and I working on the house…..vs…..Tim working on his tan in Hawaii.
So let me make it more clear:
Pauline’s Dad is celebrating his birthday, Father’s Day and his Daughter’s birthday in Hawaii.
Tim is celebrating his Father’s Day, his father-in-law’s Father’s Day and Samantha’s birthday in Hawaii too.
I’m down on my knees in a rental property laying flooring…..in celebration of Father’s Day?
You see what I’m getting at?
But I do have to say that “my favorite son, Tim, and my favorite daughter-in-law, Pauline“, did buy a table saw for me, before they left for Hawaii.
Jes and Jen! (My other favorite son and other favorite daughter-in-law)
Are you reading this?
Can you top that?
(It always benefits me greatly to rekindle the sibling rivalry.) 😂
Actually Jes and Jen had already planned the evening for me. First they made one of my favorite Korean soups (Seaweed soup). I had it with some cabbage Kimchi, rice and a Jameson Lime to start the evening out at their apartment.
I was eating alone……..
…….because I’m the “Special One”, the “Revered One”, the “Chosen One” for the day. (Plus they wanted to save their appetites for the food we would have at two other venues that night).
Then they took me to Barolo, a popular restaurant downtown, near their apartment. They go there frequently so everyone knows them. We got there for Happy Hour. Btw, we were already happy before we got there. We drank a little and ate a lot of mussels, oysters and some kind of bread with toppings and anchovies on top (I forgot the name but it was delicious), and some other good stuff. They really splurged on the “The Honorable One”.
So, Jes and Jen regained “favorite son and daughter-in-law” status, wresting the title back from Tim and Pauline, who held it for a few short days.
After that we walked across the street to a restaurant called Cinqueterra, another favorite place of “The J’s”. At that restaurant, I made a new friend.
One of The Js’ friends, Cecile, came into the restaurant and joined us. Cecile is from the Congo originally, but she has been here in Seattle for 17 years now. She is a server at a French restaurant and also has a second job. She’s very diligent and works hard. She stepped into the restaurant that night to meet up with friends and unwind from the day. She saw “The J’s” and joined us.
She’s courteous, funny and friendly. We all laughed the night away.
I laughed so hard I forgot I was the “Noble One”. For a few moments, I was just like, one of them, right?😉
I was glad to meet Cecile and glad she was part of our little get-together and part of the whole Father’s Day weekend.
We all drank a little more. Ate a little more. Then it was time to go home.
That was the best weekend I’ve had for a while and I reflected on what had transpired during those three days:
I was served but I also served others.
I was given things and I gave things to others.
I was celebrated and I celebrated others.
I said goodbye to an old friend and I said hello to a new friend.
It’s nice to do things for and with people you care about.
Thanks to everyone I mentioned in this post, for making it a great Father’s Day Weekend for me.
P.S. I was impressed with how Dan gave up a lot of his time off, to help Tim with the rental property, to ensure it was move-in ready for July 1st. He and Tim have been friends since high school. Dan went above and beyond the call of duty.
That Sunday I layed flooring for about 5 hours. Then I went outside to cut the grass and trim the trees a little, while Dan stayed inside and continued on the part of the flooring he was doing.
I mentioned I also had to cut my grass at home too. Dan said his grass was getting tall too.
So I told him I had to leave a little early to go meet the J’s for the evening’s celebration of “The Holy One” 😇 .
I used that as an opportunity to secretly go and cut Dan’s grass for him while he was working on the flooring. It would be one less thing he had to do when he got back. It would free up some time he had lost helping out on the house.
The next day, Dan called and asked, “Mr. Adams, did you cut my grass?”
I just said, “You need to upgrade your security system! Anyone could just get in and mow your grass for you!“
P.P.S. After PETE and Co. got back from Hawaii we celebrated their safe return, the Fourth of July, and Tim’s birthday, at a Korean BBQ restaurant.
But I considered it a “better-late-than-never addendum” to the Father’s Day Weekend celebration I had in their absence.😀
Ellis was fascinated by the candlelight.
