Being the dad.

Nobody wants to be the “dad”. You know, the guy who makes you finish your chores first, turns the car around, and reminds you that you should have thought of something before you left. The guy who reminds you of the responsibilities, the obligations, the commitments, and the fact that money doesn’t grow on trees.
When I was a boy, my dad had mastered the art of riding the line between friendship and leadership. Somehow, he just managed to instill just enough fear to keep me on the straight and narrow, while still being the best friend a boy could hope for.
Then came grown-up-ness.
It’s kind of lame, sometimes, to think of what I should be doing when I’m doing something I’d rather be doing. It’s even more lame to realize that I may be the only one in the group to be driven by such guilt and obligation.
Being in a band is like building a fort with all your friends; a foray into big-people things with big-people tools, but without any adult supervision. Now, sometimes we realize that we have no adult supervision because ARE adults, and other adults are off worrying about their own livelihood, and they think we are best left to our own devices anyway. That’s all well and good, until you’re building your fort with your friends and they’re putting in this awesome water-balloon launcher and it’s gonna be so sweet and totally take out anybody that tries to raid the fort and you realize, wait – this fort is built in a ravine, it’s going to rain, and oh yeah, the fort is supposed to buy us all food for our families and pay our mortgages.
Then, as much fun as it is to launch water-balloons, somebody has got to be the dad.
Like I said – lame.
A wise band once said that music was their aeroplane. Well, music is my fort. And we’re way beyond couch cushions and rope-pulleys. I became a professional fort-builder, and it’s my job now to build awesome forts that look totally sweet and have killer water-balloon launchers and are surrounded by traps and camouflage, but also serious forts that aren’t built in ravines and can provide income, longevity, security, and stability.

Come to think of it, my dad always helped me build the most awesomest forts anyway. Being the dad is cool.