I almost always try to post something on my birthday. This year coincided with my son's high school graduation; it made for quite the weekend.

I was up early on the 30th in order to arrive early enough to play chauffeur for my step son Jimmy, his girlfriend and John's girlfriend's mother and brother. Not that I minded but it meant getting up at 5AM. This will be an important fact as the weekend goes on.

It was nice to have interaction again with Jimmy. He has had a tough adolescence and I always feel as thought I carry part of the guilt due to what happened to my marriage to his mother. We had the opportunity during the day to talk some of that out.

I sat with my ex and the rest of the family which gave her and I time to talk. We talked, laughed and gossiped about family and friends. It is good to know that we can be friends after all we have been through.

And then there was the star of the day, John. Each move he made during the ceremony I flashed back to what I was thinking and feeling 29 years ago. As if it were yesterday, I could see and hear everything around me at the Warwick Musical Theater. The excited nervousness of each conversation around me. The way we looked at each other almost as if it were the last time. The smug smile I had on my face as I pulled my diploma from Ed Miley's hands, walked a few steps, crouched down in a "Chorale victory - Yessss" and then leapt over the three steps off the stage in a single bound.

15 years earlier, as Jimmy went off to his first day at school, me, John and their mother stood on the curb watching him drive off for his first day of school. My ex was weeping while I smiled at waved goodbye looking forward to 6 hours of peace and quiet. Now, I was the weeping parent as my son strode across the stage and took his diploma.

Afterwards there was a party where he was piled on with gifts. We had originally planned on heading off for our next day at Disney but we ended up at a 10:30 showing of "Up". Never one to miss seeing a Pixar movie, I had no problem with the change in plans. Not even considering that I had been up since 5AM. It was until just recently, when I went to see the movie again, that I realized that I had fallen asleep not 15 minutes into the movie. John swears I didn't snore.

We got to my place in Jensen Beach around 2AM and got as much sleep as we could for our next day at Disney. More on that in tomorrow's post.

Just some random thoughts. Sorry, no big updates yet.

I'm really tired of Michael Jackson being lionized and almost deified. Have we forgotten what happened in 1988? A friend of mine reminded me that "He was cleaed of all charges. They never proved he did anything"

My answer:
"Yeah, and I've never eaten a cheesburger!"

She had no answer to that.

I didn't get to see Trek in IMAX. They had "Transformers" instead. There was no way in hell I was going to pay $10 for "Transformers". I will gladly use one of my free passes to see the effects and Megan Fox on the big screen or just wait till it hits Netflix and I've finished my "Really Bad Bruce Willis Movie" Movie Marathon before I watch it. Maybe JJ Abhams can go a She-Ra re-boot next!

I did go see "UP"in 3-D. Amazing! Pixar continues to be the gold stabndard when it comes to CGI moves and now for 3-D as well.

And, I owe my son an apology. After his graduation we went to see "Up". This was after being up since 5AM and in a dark room with comfortable seating. I was there with John, his friends, girlfriend and her mother. After watching the movie again at a show where I was well rested all I can say is...I hope I didn't snore at all.

Finally, am I the only one who is feaked out the Bernie Madoff looks like Washington?

That's right; I've been lapse in posting again. A lot has happened in the past two months. Julie came back into my life. I've moved. John graduated and is enlisted in the Navy. Julie dumped me. I was offline for about two weeks.

What? Julie?! Last thing I had posted here she was in Michigan and our relationship was already a thing of the past. I could get heavily into that but I'll save that for another post. OK, maybe a couple of posts.

First, let me tell you about two phone calls I received today.

Today is Father's Day and my son called me. While that may not seem like a big deal the fact that my son did this, the fact that I have seen more birthdays and Fathers Days than me and my father is significant. My father didn't live to see me graduate. Every day I have with him from here on are virgin territory for me as a father. I am trying to walk that line between being parent and best friend. I think it's going pretty good so far. As things like a job and girlfriend put me lower on his list of things to do I worry that time and distance will erode our relationship. But that all melts away the moment I get a phone call or text from him.

And I love getting text messages from him. They a random and silly. He will send me a joke. Tell me about a movie or TV show he is watching. It is the intimacy of it that I love. To know he has taken the time to tap out a message and the thought it takes to be brief and right to the point shows that I do mean something to him.

Yeah, I think I'm doing OK so far and look forward to what each new day brings.

There is an old friend of mine, Buddy, who I have not been in touch with since moving down here. Through a mutual friend we were finally able to get in touch with each other. For the past few years we have been a mere few hours from each other. Our history goes back to High School and a connection of fandom and that our fathers worked together in the police department. Time and miles do their damage and it is always good to reconnect. We've emailed a couple times and talked on the phone making plans to try to meet up. Then, today, I got a call from him out of the blue.

He was going through a rough patch as life gave him a few major kicks in the nards and he was feeling down. He said that he called me, not to bitch and moan about the bad stuff he was going through, because he knew that I would be able to cheer him up. He said that through all the years he knew me and all of the shit storms I had been through that I has the ability to come through it with a smile and that he admired me for it.

I was floored.

For all the Hallmark sentimentality I say I live by I have never before have someone turned it back on me. People in my life do seem to acknowledge that they enjoy me being in their lives and that I add something to our relationship I have never had someone like him actually say something like he did. It humbled me and made me feel very good.

To out this in a Hallmark kind of mode; do just like Buddy did. Take time to tell those people in your life how much they mean to you. It might just improve their day.