Kinda sorta Father's Day

...for a kinda sorta father, I guess.

I'd always ignored Father's Day. Not having a father myself, I mean. This year, however, was delightfully different.

It's not the loot so much. I'm very touched that the kids love me enough to give me Father's Day presents, and I'm very pleased with their choices -- a t-shirt with the motto BY READING THIS TEXT YOU HAVE MOMENTARILY GIVEN ME CONTROL OF YOUR MIND, a pair of rubber sandals for sprinkler wading (there's a park near us with a big fountain-sprinkler the kids like to go to) and the second season of HILL STREET BLUES on DVD.

But what really made the day for me was the cards they gave me. The oldest and the youngest shared a card, wishing me a Happy Father's Day from 'your stepkids, the fringe benefits you get from marrying our mom'. (They'd put in 'nearly' with arrows in front of 'stepkids' and 'marrying'). The middle SuperKid, on the other hand, picked out her own card, and put the following note inside:

"I know you aren't really my dad. But you feel like it. I'm so glad that you came into my, my mom's, and my sister's lives. You have made us all so happy."

We got viruses on the computer, we got jobs we can't stand, we got a car that works when it feels like it, we got people doing their level best to make us as miserable as they are just because they're miserable people, we got too many bills and not enough money...

...and we have these kids. These amazing kids, these incredible kids, these kids who illuminate my life every minute of every day in ways I never imagined were possible. These kids who were so brilliantly and fabulously parented by their mother. These kids who are, in some strange, wonderful, astonishing fashion, part of my family now.

These kids, who let me celebrate Father's Day for the first time in my life.

Making a home for SuperGirlfriend and the SuperKids, and with SuperGirlfriend and the SuperKids, is the finest thing I have ever done. I love these people, and they love me, and whatever else may befall us, we at least have that.