1.
I’m halfway to Baltimore as I write this. I’m spending the night with my step-daughter and her fiancé near Binghamton, NY., and I’ll finish the trip early tomorrow.

My daughter attends college in Maryland and needs their snow tires. “I could just get them at Thanksgiving,” they said, but I’d rather not risk it. 

Then, , I got a call from them this afternoon as I was passing through Afton, NY. It was my daughter, and the car battery was dead. A friendly passerby offered a boost, and the car made it back to campus, thank goodness. But it’s clear my daughter needs a new battery. So in addition to delivering snow tires, we’ll go battery shopping.

I’m psyched.

I wasn’t able to be there for my kids when they were younger, so I’m grateful for each chance I get to do dad stuff. Also, I don’t know much about cars, but delivering snow tires and finding a new car battery, I can do. If my daughter needed new rotary pistons or a flywheel brace or blinker fluid replacement, I wouldn’t be able to help.

2.
I love driving.

Short trips. Long trips. In-between trips. All good.

This afternoon I wiled away five-and-a-half hours of solo miles with podcasts and Spotify. After the past few days, it was nice to clear my head and just focus on the scenery passing by. It would have been better to share the ride, but I still enjoyed the time.

I’ve got another four-hour drive tomorrow morning, along with the nine hours back on Sunday. I’m looking forward to more podcasts, more Spotify, and maybe some writing via my recording app. I’m grateful for it all.

3.
My step-daughter and her fiancé took me out to dinner tonight at the Storming Crab,  a fantastic seafood place they’d been hyping to us since they moved here this past summer.

A big bag of steamed shrimp, crab legs, scallops, clams, sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob filled our table, with an empty bucket off to the side for shells, cobs, and whatever else. We ate with bibs and plastic gloves, and it was fantastic!

There is no value to be placed on the relationships I have with my kids, and that includes my stepdaughter. To enjoy a fun dinner with her and the amazing guy she’s going to marry, to hang out in their house tonight and feel like I’m home, to be embraced like I am by both of them …

I’d say I’m grateful, but that barely scratches the surface.