Two Down, One To Go

[BasketBaller]

BBaller, your wife is right there with you, I am sure you know it. I am sure you feel it. I am sure when you are down, memories help supply a sense of peace and contentment with just a tinge of melancholy. So you did do it, both of you. You have been blessed.

Well so much for my claim that nobody's cried lately.

 

(Thank you very much.)

[LoveAustinCF]

I had been lurking for a while before I made an account and you are definitely my favorite poster here. Good luck to you and your kids!

Edited May 2, 2017 by LoveAustinCF

[+ sniper]

Being just about the same age, I kind of view BasketBaller as how my life might had gone had I decided to marry and have kids. Except mine probably would have ended with me losing everything in a nasty divorce after banging the lawn guy....

 

I gave serious consideration to "just find some nice-enough girl who doesn't like sex and have kids with her" in my early 20s but while my Catholic guilt kept me from acting on my male desires, it also made me thing that was a horrible thing to do to a woman and I wasn't brave enough to be upfront about it. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time knowing what I know now and find a woman to have a "companionate marriage" with. I feel for various reasons I'm too old now for the kids road and would love to have had the experience.

[+ nycman]

Baller, I just found this beautiful thread.

 

Thank you for sharing.

 

While the "family" life was never for me....I do admit to a twinge of jealously

when I read your posting and the obvious love and joy they contain.

 

Congratulations on being a great dad!

[BasketBaller]

Baller, I just found this beautiful thread.

 

Thank you for sharing.

 

Thank you! When I started sharing this side of my life I worried it would seem weird or boring to talk about it here, and if it has been to anyone, I apologize. But the reaction from most folks here has been so gratifying, and truly even comforting, I'm humbled and so glad to have found my way here. I have posted things here I've never said to anyone ever, and felt comfortable doing so. Thanks again to you all.

[+ purplekow]

Thank you! When I started sharing this side of my life I worried it would seem weird or boring to talk about it here, and if it has been to anyone, I apologize. But the reaction from most folks here has been so gratifying, and truly even comforting, I'm humbled and so glad to have found my way here. I have posted things here I've never said to anyone ever, and felt comfortable doing so. Thanks again to you all.

I cannot speak for others but I always enjoy your posts, your avatar has great abs and your posts have great heart.

[BasketBaller]

I cannot speak for others but I always enjoy your posts, your avatar has great abs and your posts have great heart.

I wish I had the abs, but I'd rather have the heart.

[+ FreshFluff]

I gave serious consideration to "just find some nice-enough girl who doesn't like sex

 

Edited June 13, 2017 by FreshFluff

[LoveAustinCF]

I wish I had the abs, but I'd rather have the heart.

 

Why not both? Still not too late to get yourself some abs.

[BasketBaller]

Update-- oldest is home for the summer with an internship here but missing his girlfriend a lot and probably going to visit her in Boston as soon as he can. So all at home until the end of June when one twin reports to the Naval Academy for plebe summer, during which we'll have very limited contact. So we're trying to stay in the moment and enjoy this time together but the impending changes are always there in the background, for me at least. I hear the twins in their room talking late into the night and I know it's on their minds. I don't think they've been apart for more than a week in their lives, and when their brother left for college they turned down the offer for one to take his room, and stayed together in theirs. I'm sure it's a good thing for them to move on with separate lives, but what an adjustment it's going to be. They graduate from high school in two weeks.

 

Navy twin and his girlfriend are vowing to continue a long-distance relationship. DePaul twin and his are not so sure that will work, as much as they like each other. He'll be in Chicago and she's going to school in Vermont, so they'll be farther apart.

 

My oldest is taller than me, and I suspect his brothers will be too, they're still growing.

Edited May 23, 2017 by BasketBaller

[MileHigh]

Update-- oldest is home for the summer with an internship here but missing his girlfriend a lot and probably going to visit her in Boston as soon as he can. So all at home until the end of June when one twin reports to the Naval Academy for plebe summer, during which we'll have very limited contact. So we're trying to stay in the moment and enjoy this time together but the impending changes are always there in the background, for me at least. I hear the twins in their room talking late into the night and I know it's on their minds. I don't think they've been apart for more than a week in their lives, and when their brother left for college they turned down the offer for one to take his room, and stayed together in theirs. I'm sure it's a good thing for them to move on with separate lives, but what an adjustment it's going to be. They graduate from high school in two weeks.

 

Navy twin and his girlfriend are vowing to continue a long-distance relationship. DePaul twin and his are not so sure that will work, as much as they like each other. He'll be in Chicago and she's going to school in Florida, so they'll be farther apart.

 

My oldest is taller than me, and I suspect his brothers will be too, they're still growing.

Do your kids know about you?

[BasketBaller]

Do your kids know about you?

They do not, as far as I know. As I have posted about in the past, they used to urge me to date, even suggesting women I should go out with. Then, a couple of years ago, that abruptly stopped, and I'm not sure whether they began to suspect my interests lay elsewhere, or they just got preoccupied with adolescence.

[MileHigh]

They do not, as far as I know. As I have posted about in the past, they used to urge me to date, even suggesting women I should go out with. Then, a couple of years ago, that abruptly stopped, and I'm not sure whether they began to suspect my interests lay elsewhere, or they just got preoccupied with adolescence.

This is a fascinating story of yours and we can all learn a thing or two from you about humility, grace, family and perseverance! Kudos to you... Such an inspiration!!!

[+ purplekow]

Was thinking about you as I watched those midshipmen -to -be, trying to get up that long greasy pole. I must admit some of my thoughts strayed to a completely different type of greasy pole trying to be mounted.

[BasketBaller]

Was thinking about you as I watched those midshipmen -to -be, trying to get up that long greasy pole. I must admit some of my thoughts strayed to a completely different type of greasy pole trying to be mounted.

I've often attended that event, but couldn't this year. Next year my son will be one of them so I'll either need to control my thoughts or stay away!

[+ purplekow]

Put on the professional demeanor and dad face and enjoy the good clean dirty fun of it next year. The following year, back to Grease 3!! Lust in the Grease

[+ sniper]

They do not, as far as I know. As I have posted about in the past, they used to urge me to date, even suggesting women I should go out with. Then, a couple of years ago, that abruptly stopped, and I'm not sure whether they began to suspect my interests lay elsewhere, or they just got preoccupied with adolescence.

You don't have a giant dildo they may have stumbled upon do you?

Kids snoop. EVERYWHERE.

[+ sniper]

That said, as they got older, probably they had at least one friend who wound up with a stepmother and may have learned be careful what you wish for...

[BasketBaller]

Was thinking about you as I watched those midshipmen -to -be, trying to get up that long greasy pole. I must admit some of my thoughts strayed to a completely different type of greasy pole trying to be mounted.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/heaven-is-a-real-place-and-it-is-here?utm_term=.olzQ3ZB0Aq#.yqb2k0rlob

[BasketBaller]

I wasn't sure whether to start a new thread or continue this one, but I figured anyone uninterested in my saga would know to avoid this one.

 

I am sitting here late at night with a Scotch and a full heart after a long day full of pride and emotion. Today was Induction Day, or "I Day" at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis MD. At the crack of dawn we took my son, one of the twins, to start his Plebe Summer, essentially boot camp, where the young men and women admitted to the Academy are trained to be members of the Brigade of Midshipmen. It's a day of head shaving and uniform issue, yelling and pageantry, and the first day of a seven week isolation meant to transform them into members of the military.

 

As the day approached the boys, both the twins and their older brother, got quiet and serious. I offered to bring the Plebe's girlfriend today, but they decided that would be too hard and said their goodbyes during the day Wednesday, leaving us to have a dinner alone. Thursday morning before dawn we headed to Annapolis. The twins had been talking in their room before I went to bed and were doing the same when I got us up, so I'm not sure they slept at all. My dad, an Academy alum, was going to come too, but was under the weather, so it was the four of us alone. The twins had decided long ago to shave their heads yesterday, and that saved the Plebe a few minutes to rest and breathe, and made them impossible to tell apart. Once he entered the building for in-processing we had a number of family events that were probably more helpful for people who lived at a distance, but it was all good to hear.

In the evening there was a ceremony with pageantry, and a jet fly-over, and the oath to support and defend the Constitution. Followed by about 40 minutes to mingle and say good-bye before they embark on a summer-long adventure where we'll have almost no contact. The Yard (there's tons of jargon, it's not a campus it's a Yard. They

are not freshmen, they're Plebes.) is surprisingly beautiful if you've never been there. So we met up and sat on a blanket, with snacks and drinks, before we said goodbye for the summer. Around us were sad families, happy families, laughing families and silent families, all dealing with what their sons and daughters were taking on.

 

My twins sat close to each other and didn't talk much, but Plebe twin was dealing with it fine. He has a cousin who is a Firstie (they're not seniors, they're 1st Class Midshipmen or Firsties.) He knew what to expect and had handled it well. Older brother was great, very proud, very good at asking questions about the day, Plebe twin has two roommates, neither of whom has ever shared a room with anyone, so that will be an adjustment he won't need to make. When it came time for him to join the formation and march into Bancroft Hall, the largest dormitory in the world, he hugged older brother first, and they both laughed. Then he hugged me and did something he hasn't done since babyhood-- he kissed me on the cheek. We are inveterate huggers, but none of the boys has kissed me since they were tiny. He murmured, "Be happy" to me and that's a conversation to come. Then, as I might have guessed, his twin and he hugged each other tightly and long, and both whispered something to the other-- maybe in their twin language? And then he joined his company in formation, and we lined up to watch them march into the hall, as the last Plebes entered, the huge doors slammed shut, and Plebe Summer had begun. If you want o see what his day was like, watch 1:55 to 8:07 of this, last year's I Day--

 

We had intended to have dinner in Annapolis, but twin brother asked if we could just go home and get pizza, so we headed back to DC. Older brother drove, and on the way he nudged me and looked into the mirror. I turned and saw twin brother with his eyes closed, silently weeping with tears running down his cheeks. By the time we got home he was composed, we got pizza, and he went to bed early. When I came up to say good night to him, I found him asleep in his brother's bed.

 

This is all good, it's a necessary part of them all growing up. But the two moments of Plebe twin kissing me and saying "Be happy" and his brother quietly crying in the back seat are things I'll never forget. Over the summer we get three short phone calls from the Plebe, and in August there is a parents' weekend when we can spend some time with him. Then, almost immediately, older brother and I will drive twin brother to Chicago to start his freshman year at DePaul, and I'll drive older brother to NYC to start his junior year at Fordham. And then I'll drive home to DC alone and we'll see what that's like.

Edited June 30, 2017 by BasketBaller

[+ glennnn]

I love you and your family.

[+ honcho]

I regret there isn't a teary-eyed icon for a "Like" as there is in face book. Color me moved.

[+ purplekow]

I love it when the posters here share their lives and not just their sex lives. I can almost see the twins, heads shaved, arms trying to crush themselves into one another. You do not mention if you were shedding tears but perhaps that is part of the reason your older son drove home.

We are born. We grow. We grow up. We grown apart. We grow wings. We fly. But we only soar when we have an ever present updraft of support and love from those in our lives. You are a lucky man to have given the three most important men in your life the ability to soar.

[Bargara Leatherboy]

thanks for sharing - its a journey - and life is always about the journey not the destination.

 

Now what plans do you have for your journey that starts after the summer.

 

Dating and making out ....

[+ purplekow]

Start booking Palm Springs 2018. Time to break out the speedo and break in a new stud.