The host with the most

I have hosted for the first time. One of the many joys of owning a home is having people stay over. During the first couple of days my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law stayed, but that was more of a live-in worker situation. Having my dad in the house meant a few things. I'd have to clean. The guest bed would have to be prepped. There were little things, like what kind of food/beverages that he needed. I assumed that having coffee and wine would suffice and I was pretty close to right.

There are times when being an adult is nothing but a pain. There are times when it's pretty fun. It was fun to host my dad, cook on the grill like a big boy and have him drive me to and from poker night. Sure, it afforded me an opportunity to drink more than I usually do at such events.

You never think of your parents changing. They're pretty much ready-made when they have you and that is that. Of course that's ridiculous. Just look outside for five minutes and you know that everything is in constant change. One major change in my dad's life is that he re-joined the Catholic Church. I won't get into the specifics of religion or how I feel about it. It added community. It added meaning. Just that alone makes it a positive. I found it slightly more unnerving that he's ahead of me technologically. He has an iPod touch. I just have the lame Nano. Let's not mistake ahead technologically with actually being able to understand the technology. He tried to get hooked up to our wireless network at the house and had server issues. I didn't know how to help. He seemed OK with it.

My dad's making iPod playlists. And they're good. This is the same man who skirted his high school "no jeans" policy by wearing Madras pants. I've seen the shorts and deemed every man wearing them a douche. The pants are probably making a comeback.
When we got home from poker last night, well past both of our bed times, he wondered where the coffee was for the morning. My smart and ahead of the game wifey had written instructions next to the coffee maker. The best part about being a host is having a co-host.

We're taking this whole hosting thing to the next level this afternoon by having the brother, sister-in-law, and nephews over. The nephews will be fine as long as they can plug in their DS games. I'm grilling, because that's what a man does. That's what I do, anyway.