Martyr Dad

Many times as a parent and as a wife - I have had to pretend that I was having a great time... Because that is what you do to make others happy.. not all the time but most of the time..... Example: I am not a big fan of golf but I have "happily" joined my husband on the course a time of two.. Why? Because he likes it.... The same goes for the golf, baseball, football, hockey, racing, and Discover Channel.... He has control over the remote and sometimes just to spend "quality" time with my spouse of 20 years - I suck it up - with a happy smile...
As a mom - pretending to have a great time is just part of the growing pains of having kids.... Don't get me wrong - I love love seeing my kids have fun - but I would not be going to Chuck E Cheese for my own enjoyment... Thank God they have both outgrown that hell hole... Sorry for the language folks but you gotta know that is my idea of hell - Chuck E Cheese and a million kids that are not my own... Get me out of here..... But of course, I did not scream - I smiled and pretended I was having a great ole time... Why? Because it made my girls happy and that makes me happy...
Last weekend we were in Las Vegas and trying desperately to find a place for the kids to have fun... the pool time was over (8 hours of pool slide bliss) The kids suggested the Excalibur - there's a Midway with carnival type games.. I personally love throwing ping pong balls into plastic dishes in a tub of water..... seriously, I do... Well Dusty (the husband) has made it perfectly clear that he does not like playing these games - You only had to look at him to know he was not having a good time.. the pained look on his face.. The "I don't want to play" comments... the eye roll when I pulled another $5 bill out of my purse.... I think every mother has seen these looks on their husband's faces a time or two....
After about a half hour of his martyrdom - I wanted to scream so instead of being lunatic mom and wife - I asked Dusty to figure out what we should do since he despised the games we were trying to play... He suggested the Luxor - he was under the impression that the kids would want to see The Body Exhibition - I was seriously wondering if he even knew his kids after that comment.. but I did not say a word.. So we walk the "not short" trek to The Luxor - we go to the very center of the pyramid - the kids get wind of Dusty's idea for The Body and I suddenly hear a high pitched chorus of "I don't want to see any dead bodies.." So I ask Dusty to figure out what we are going to do and I pop a squat on a bench - my calve muscles were killing me trying to keep up with his stride..
The girls and I are sitting on the bench... Dusty joins us on the bench.... and we sit... not saying a word..... and we sit some more....... Dusty finally says, "You want to go get dinner?" Seriously..... he asks me that.... Where I ask?... He suggests an Italian restaurant that he and I like but the kids hate... which we quickly heard protests from both of the all girls' choir of protesters..... So we walk all the way back to The Excalibur... all the way to the car at the very end of the outside parking lot... in the 107 degree heat.. We ended up at some hole in the wall that made the best Strawberry Margaritas this side of Mexico, ole........