in which i spend a day as both father and a son

My son Ryan came home for Thanksgiving, and before he left, my dad and I had planned to take him and his brother to play Frisbee golf.

When I got up today, it was fifty-seven degrees below zero, and the wind was gusting with gusto (HA HA HA), and I knew the conditions were not, shall we say, optimal for the playing of disc golf. Or being outside, for that matter.

I called my dad, and asked him if he wanted to go out to lunch, instead. He suggested that we go bowling, and then go to lunch.

Now, I am a terrible bowler, and not a huge fan, but I love doing things with my dad, and I love doing things with my boys, so bowling was more of an excuse to spend more time together than we would if we only went to lunch.

I put on the best bowling shirt I own and drove over to the bowling alley, where my first three frames went like this: 0-1, 0-3, X. I went on to win that game with something around 150. I told Twitter: I just won at bowling, and didn't have to break anyone up to do it. Today, life does not imitate art.

The second game, I bowled spares through the first 7 frames, but my dad was matching me and dropping a few strikes in there himself, so by the 10th frame, I needed to throw a turkey (two strikes followed by a spare, incidentally, is now called a TOFURKEY in the Wheaton Hall of Bowling Nomenclature.) I didn't pull it off, and my dad edged me for the win. I told Twitter: I shanked my last ball, and didn't want to break up my parents to win, so my dad edged me out to win the second game.

Ryan and Nolan had a blast, too, giving out high fives, sincere and mocking applause as appropriate, and issuing the required number of Team Homer and Lebowski references.

After bowling, we went to Lucky Baldwin's for some pub food. When I got home, I made this stupid cell phone video in my living room:

It was truly wonderful to have three generations of Wheaton Men together, and it meant the world to me to spend the day with people I love, as both father and son.

In this video, I say that I won at bowling, but the more I think about it, today I feel kind of like I won at life.

41 thoughts on “in which i spend a day as both father and a son”

  3. I must agree. That was a life win. I am glad you had a wonderful time and thanks for sharing some of that wonderful with us! I love your videos, always so funny!

  7. Best shirt ever!!!! I love how bowling is having a bit of a renaissance, which means that there are actually alleys opening up in parts of Toronto that don’t make you want to hire security to go to.

  8. My sister (just turned 40) and our family went bowling for her birthday – family tradition. We all suck. We boycott alleys that won’t let us use the automatic bumpers, because we really do suck. Badly. Bowl on, bowl on.

  9. We played at Pickwick in Burbank today, and their bumpers can be raised or lowered automatically depending on the bowler. I loved that there were parents with small kids bowling on the same lane, and all of them were having a fun and challenging time in their own way.

  17. Ah, yes, and these as well.  However, the water-logged gremlins program the bumpers from the front desk, thus keeping control over who has bumpers (i.e. kids) and who does not.  But, day-um, are their enchiladas to DIE for!  Which is why we keep going back.  Infrequently.  To spite them.  Cuz i know they know why.  They. Know. Why.
    Sent from iTheresa's iPhone!!

  22. Establishing shot, computer screen, white text appearing on blue background
    In this video, I say that I won at bowling, but the more I think about it…
    Closeup of Wil behind a monitor. He thinks for a moment then starts typing again
    I feel like I won at life.
    Credits
    Well written Wil ๐Ÿ™‚

  23. Awesome bowling shirt Wil! I love the name too. Like I tell everyone who has teenagers. Cherish every little time you have with them, because before you know it, they will be adults going off in the world to make their mark and will have busy lives. LOL. I’m sure that’s not too far off with Ryan and Nolan right?

  24. My dear Wil, while I love the shirt and your blog, please stop telling people like my husband that “bowties are cool.” They, in fact, are not. They are for old men. Thanks!

  25. My buddy Wil, while I love the shirt and your blog, please keep telling people like my wife that “bowties are cool.” They, in fact, are. Much like fezes. Thanks!

  28. I think, dear sir, you have defined the meaning of Thanksgiving. I’m so glad you had such a wonderful family-time.
    And by the way, love the shirt! Keep bowlin’!

  29. $5 for international shipping? Gimme!
    ThinkGeek should take heed, they charge at least 15 dollars for intl. shipping so buying a $15 item is hardly econimical.

  32. Awesome story! And yet another reminder that you and my husband are like, identical. And you clearly live way too close for us. (we’re like, four blocks from Lucky Baldwins)
    If you ever have a craving for a game of disc golf with some random fans, we are here sir. We are here.

  36. Thanks, Wil. That was nice. Not nearly as nefarious as you made it sound “shanking” a bowling ball, indeed.
    That said, I think there’s a Eureka connection here too. That is, is the building that is supposed to be Carter’s sheriff’s office on Main Street, in actuality, a bowling alley? Chillibowl Lanes, I believe?

  38. LOL didn’t know you played Disc Golf. I wonder how many times I have almost hit you at Oak Grove with 170g of plastic after missing a mandatory. =|

  40. Great Shirt…
    BTW… any chance of making your videos iPad friendly in the near future. Just turned onto your site by a friend and I do most of my web stuff on the iPad now and almost nothing on my computer. So there are blank spaces for your videos.
    Thanks for having the blog, videos or san videos.

  41. Unfortunately, I put those videos up at YouTube, and until YouTube changes their encoding, it's out of my hands.

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