Dad Entry #34

Darth Michael is growing strong with the Force. His light saber skills are exceptional for a young Jedi. His is a plastic collapsible light saber from Target. Mine is a skinny, yellow wiffle ball bat (a tool I’m quite skilled with though not so much as a fencer). Although I’m no Yoda or Obi-Wan, I am a willing training partner. Michael’s aggressive attacks aren’t so easy to deflect anymore, he comes at me now with appreciable quickness, swinging his saber wildly, not afraid to whack my forearms or knuckles. He even took a few swipes at my back during our earliest battles, which I often leave exposed once I am ‘defeated’ and down. But I assured him in no uncertain terms that an accidental welt on my arm is okay (even if it’s raised and purple – ouch!) but a big welt stripe on my back is unacceptable. So Michael is a pretty chivalrous fighter now, after all, a Jedi Knight must adhere to a code, like never hit your little sister and don’t wallop your father when he’s down (unless you’re Luke Skywalker fighting your old man, Darth Vader). But that’s why it’s fun, I really have to be swift and sharp, keep dodging, blocking, defending. Otherwise I get a painful reminder that to be good Dad, you gotta pay attention!

Megan wants to play too. She loves Star Wars and will pick up a plastic bat – I mean ‘light saber’ – and swing it and talk about Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker and ‘The Yoda’. For some reason Yoda is not simply ‘Yoda’. He is ‘The Yoda’. I like that. Obi-Wan and Yoda are my favorites; so I agree Yoda deserves the prefix. We don’t say king, we say ‘the king’, and we don’t say master, we say ‘the master’. How come we don’t say ‘the dad’? Anyway, Megan is a little Star Wars fan, too. She is a fan of everything, actually. Except preschool. She doesn’t like that very much. But she’s going, and adjusting a little more every week. Bless her little heart. Michael is doing great in school. He’s learning letters, learning to sound out words and read. And he’s making friends like Dante and Samantha. Dante likes Star Wars, too. And Samantha, well, I hear she is very nice.