I spent my PRIDE Day in a role scarier then playing Joan Crawford in a wheel chair. I was Uncle David and myself and Uncle Chris took the older half of our nephews and nieces to see Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties. Now, I did not want to see the new Garfield film with all of my heart and if Deborah Harry called me and said, ‘Hey David, I’m in Chicago! Wanna catch the new Garfield flick?’ I would have most likely declined, but being an uncle makes you do strange things.

Michael Miller said , ‘isn’t being an uncle great?’ It is. Although when you spend more then 5 minutes with the 2 or more of the kids there’s a disciplinary challenge. Do I do what my parents did and what I learned to do with my brothers and sisters and put a stop to bad behavior with a swift smack? No. I’m happy to report the automatic reflex to do that is mostly gone, thank God. The urge to yell is still there but I try to suppress that too. I also desperately try to avoid the ‘You’re an idiot’ tone that I was all to familiar with as a child.
However… I refuse to try and negotiate with a child like they’re an adult, the way I see the manicured moms in the Andersonville Starbucks do. They’re kids and they do need discipline mixed with loads of love. They need to know who’s in charge but they also need to feel safe and always know that they’re loved which for me, is like walking on a tightrope, but I’m getting better at it every day. One of the best parts of taking the kids out is watching Uncle Chris being Uncle Chris. The kids adore him and he’s such a boy himself my nephews love it when he acts like one of them. I bond more with the girls and the introspective Ethan.

The ride home included a trip to McDonald’s and the boys telling me that Blondie is bald and eats her own boogers. These comments elicited hysterical laughter from all, including Uncle Chris. Of course I defended Debbie Harry as if I were in a very melodramatic 40’s MGM film which made them laugh even more. Even with them I’m an attention whore.

Ethan, my 7 year old little troublemaker, who is constantly at odds with his older brother Sebastian, ‘who gets everything his way’ looked at me and said, ‘You’re stuck with Uncle Chris the way I’m stuck with Sebastian, right?’

Filed under: My Way Of Life