I will do my best to recap what was a fun, but quick weekend with my son and family..

Saturday

1pm: My son arrives via Amtrak, and instantly his physical appearance jumps out at me. He has grown at least two inches to about 5'4", and he looks like he's been lifting weights or something, because he's a little thicker and a bit more defined. Also, his mother has once again dropped the ball in the haircut department, because my son showed up looking like a Craig Mack in 1994 (thankfully not in the face though)

2pm: We arrive at the barbershop, and my son pisses of the barber, because he keeps trying to watch the Kentucky/Tennessee game on television, instead of sitting still for the barber. I could have gone over to the chair right away to tell him to ignore the tv, so the barber could cut his hair, but it was pretty funny to watch the barber getting frustrated. It serves him right for messing up my facial hair last Thursday

2:30pm: I inform my son that we are attending a Wizards game, and he says to me, "Daddy, I don't even know who plays for the Wizards anymore." Ladies and gentleman, your 2009-2010 Washington Wizards!

3pm: My dad arrives, and he picks up for lunch at Clydes (my first time time there). My father was shocked to see that my son is a good growth spurt away from passing him in the height department ( my dad is 5'6") When my father and I talk, I notice my son looking at me, and then looking back at my dad, and I wonder what goes through his head. Unfortunately, he won't be able to truly and properly articulate that for another 20 years, but I'll be waiting. I know when I watched my son and my father talking, I was sitting there thinking how happy I was to have both of them in my presence. It needs to happen more than it does

530pm: I ditch both of them to begin preparing for the Wizards game. My son asks me to get Dwight Howard's autograph for him while I'm in locker room, but I tell him that as a journalist, I am legally not allowed to do that. It is at that point that I explain to him what integrity means.

630pm: I emerge from my pregame duties to see my son and father sitting in the stands side by side. My son has a huge smile on his face because a)he can see Howard and Vince Carter warming up just a few feet in front of him and b)he had just met Mark May outside of the arena.

8pm: During the game, there is a T-shirt giveaway, that basically consist of various employees heaving T-shirts into the crowd, and then adults and children scurry around like crazy people and try to claim them. When my son sees that this is about to go down, he jumps up, runs down two rows, then over one aisle, knocks two kids down, gets a shirt, then raises up the shirt he's just forcefully obtained and turns to my dad and yells out, "Yes!". I can't even tell you how funny this moment was, and it happened in about 30 seconds. I don't condone kid-on-kid violence..but damn if it wasn't funny.

9pm: I gave my father some post game instructions on where we should meet up after I do my post game duties. While I am talking to him, I start to notice how aging has changed him. His already gray hair is thinning, his glasses keep sliding off of his nose a bit, and he kept having to push them back in place. As I was explaining where we should meet, I could see that he wasn't getting it as quickly as I would have liked, and I remember thinking how unusual it was for that to be the case. I noticed every wrinkle in his face, specifically around his eyes, and I thought to myself, "Damn, its happening." I never really paid attention that closely before to how he was aging and a rush of sadness came over me. I ended my conversation with him, went back to my seat with the media, and cried for about 30 seconds (thank God nobody saw me). And then I woke the f**k up, realized that he's still alive and well (but aging) and that I needed to get over myself. I will never forget that moment though.

12am: We said our goodbyes, I put my son to my bed, and I watched that bulls**t Pacquiao/Clottey fight. Then, after losing an hour of sleep, I witnessed an all out brawl outside my apartment at 3:30am. All you need to know is that there were lesbians fighting, it was pouring rain, and wet clothes came off.

Ok I'm tired of writing right now. Sunday, we went to brunch with my mother, my brother and my nephew, and we had a ball. The only bad news was that we learned my that my grandmother has had a stroke and is in the hospital, which immediately put my mother in another state of mind. I worry about my dad, but he can take care of himself, and he enjoys the solitude. My mother moved back to Cleveland last year to take care of her mother and if something happens, it will be devastating to everyone, but especially her.

There was one tender moment though, that I will share before I shut this entry down. When my son and I arrived at my brother's house, my nephew refused to speak to him. He spoke to me, but he ignored my son repeatedly. I told my nephew that if he didn't speak I'd take away his toys (he about 6 cars in front of him), and immediately, he tried to pull all his toys closer to him. I took the cars away one by one, and of course my nephew starting crying. I just walked away, but my son decided to sit down next to him and start playing. At first my nephew shunned my son, but after about 15 minutes or so, they were playing (as well as a 12 year old and a 3 year old can play) and my nephew said, "I'm sorry" and my son said, "That's ok.!" I know this sounds pretty high on the ghey meter, but I enjoyed it.

I dropped my son off in Hampton, VA. late last night and got back to DC even later. I am tired, hungry and I got a total of 5 hours of sleep all weekend, but I have no real complaints.

Oh and to make things worse, I got splashed by two cars in a 30 second span this morning, so now I am wet and so are my clothes...and yes, that's what she said.