Father’s Day is upon us. It crept up on me and came out of nowhere. My clock radio went off this morning giving me a local news update, they mentioned this coming weekend is Father’s Day. I know it happens at the same time every year and falls in June. I guess I didn’t realize we were this deep into June already. That’s on me. I guess looking at a calendar would give me a bit of insight.
I feel like as you get older and your father gets older you realize he has the things he desires. Going into this holiday with those feelings makes it hard to find him a gift. So, off to Google Land to get some suggestions. One week to go and I am googling.
Basically, not going to order anything because of shipping. I don’t have Amazon Prime so I can’t guarantee that what I order shows up in time. No one wants to look like a slacker, Oh, I ordered something and it just hasn’t shown up yet. Just as well say, I waited until the last minute to order your gift.
Father’s Day gift ideas
Google answers the question, What is the most popular Father’s Day gift of all time?
The most popular Father’s Day gifts are cards, special outings, and clothing (including neckties!). There are 70.1 million dads in the United States.
Okay. Wait.
Got excited there. Thought maybe we were on to something. A card? That is an acceptable gift? Just had the man a card and we are all good??
Never.
That does say “popular” gifts. It doesn’t say the best gifts.
When my grandparents were alive, I remember how these holidays were spent. They had five sons, four of them lived locally- within driving distance. The day would be the four sons stopping by and sitting for an hour or so. They would bring a card and often a gift. It was a low-key nice visit.
Meanwhile, cooking a meal or going out to eat seems so strained on this day. Maybe that is me getting older, I am now just looking for low-key.
IBS story of the week
Obviously, this is where the, I knew better part comes in. I feel like I am perpetually the emoji that has his hand to his forehead, the facepalm emoji.
Ryan scored big at work two weeks ago. He proudly came home carrying two grocery bags full of green bell peppers. Someone just gave them to him. He likes free food, I like free food. It is garden season around here. So two bags of bell peppers it is.
The problem is I have had problems in the past with green bell peppers and now I try to stay away from them. This doesn’t generally pose a problem, because how often is one in a situation with green bell peppers?
Not often, until the spouse proudly brings home two bags of them. I am a team player, so I figured we would give it a try and see where the bowels took me.
It took three meals to finish off the first bag. I made stuffed peppers, sausage, pork, onions, egg, breadcrumbs, rice and seasoning. All went well. I had no problems, no bloat or nausea. I got to thinking maybe I had moved past the issues with bell pepper.
Week two, start in on the second bag. We go with stuffed peppers again because Ryan is loving them and they are easy to make. Night one, dinner and I am good. Still no problems.
until there were problems
Tuesday afternoon lunch, leftover stuffed bell peppers. It all went bad. As soon as I finished eating I felt nauseous. I did not bloat but there was a pain in my abdomen. No diarrhea. Different symptoms from my normal. It was debilitating. I needed to lie down with a fan blowing on me. I was wiped out.
Here is the thing I have learned about IBS, you don’t know! You never know. It is good until it is bad. It changes. This though I do know, I will forever remain the facepalm emoji.
