Dad’s Day Promise

With the exception of our son not being here, I probably had the best Father’s Day ever. The night before Father’s Day, however, was miserable. On the week leading up to the paternal holy day, our 15-year-old daughter was unusually glued to the TV.

Unusual because she was watching The Cake Boss on cable. It’s a reality show about a cake bakery in Hoboken, N.J. They specialize in making custom cakes and, seriously, there’s nothing they can’t make into a cake. By the evening before Father’s Day, my wife told me later, our daughter was determined to surprise me with a custom Father’s Day cake.

I was banned to the room above our garage and was not allowed to go near the kitchen. Our daughter and her mother were in there all night concocting what was to be a wonderful surprise for me. It actually sounded like they were working on the rail project. When they were done, my daughter came to kiss me goodnight and made me promise not to go into the refrigerator. I put my hand over my heart and promised her I would not.

Funny, when you do stuff like that, your mind plays tricks on you. For as soon as everyone went to bed, I suddenly had an urge to eat something. I needed to access the “fridge.” I bounced into the kitchen, where on the refrigerator I saw a huge sign taped to the door. It read, “Daddy, you promised.”

Sure, I thought, no one would know if I opened the door and grabbed a fast snack. But a wave of guilt suddenly came over me and I abandoned the effort. I went through our pantry, but all there was were cans and boxes of “dry” food. Anything worth eating would have to come from the ol’ icebox.

Suddenly an idea came to me – I would eat something from out of the freezer, a completely separate door! A few minutes later, the main lights flicked on in the kitchen. It was my wife, and she stood there looking at me heat up some frozen mixed vegetables on the stove. She turned the lights back off and said as she walked away, “I’m not even going to ask.”