We've had a couple of major knucklehead moments among the men in our household this past week, and they are remarkable enough to be worth noting - we've earned the public shaming.
The first belongs to my son. A month ago, his all frosh high school team overcame the odds to beat an all-star senior team in the school trivia challenge, making school history. We decided to celebrate the victors by hosting a pizza party for them at our place.
Another team member's generous dad offered to buy each kid a quart of gourmet ice cream at a favorite local spot.
My son somehow fell under the illusion that the ice cream place would honor a request to cram multiple individual scoops of different flavors into the same single quart container.
This fallacy was exposed when the son of the ice cream sponsor showed up at our place with six pints - one for each of the other boys, and three to fulfill the request that my son had made. My wife, son and I were all mortified, and we apologized profusely for the added inconvenience and cost his error imposed on these folks, who were nothing but gracious in their responses.
Moment number two was my unique contribution. My wife had gone to a movie with a friend in town from out of state, so the kids and I were home alone. It was finals week, and the kids still had some tests ahead of them, so I reclusively set off to play strategy games online in my office.
Between games, I'd check on the kids, who appeared to be locked in their respective rooms studying.
At one point, the kids came into my office to watch some late night show clips on youtube, something we occasionally do as a family. I was still locked in the thick of a strategy game, and as they sat beside me I was not present.
I got called out on it in a big way by my daughter, and rightly so, to the tune of:
Hey knucklehead, you always talk about how much you'll miss me when I leave home for college, but tonight I was sitting beside you and you couldn't see me for the distraction of your game. Worse yet, I had my last final days ago, and you didn't pay enough attention to notice!
She was right. I'd been an idiot. I listened, apologized, and took some steps the next morning to make amends.
Not a great week for the men under our roof, but one I hope we learn from.