> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://thedailyeudemon.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# The Wednesday Eudemon
- URL: https://thedailyeudemon.com/4870/
- Published: 2006-07-26T10:49:47.000Z
- Updated: 2006-07-26T10:49:47.000Z
- Author: Eric Scheske
- Tags: Family, #wpChunk

A packed midweek. It started last night, when I took three of my older kids to *Pirates of the Caribbean 2*. It wasn't good. The plot didn't hold together nearly as well as the first one (which had an excellent plot and story lines that hung together tightly). Very few things in *2* made sense. The script no doubt was poorly written, but on top of that, the actors used such heavy pirate accents in some of the (I'm guessing) crucial plot scenes, I couldn't understand what they were saying. The only good part: The movie got out at 9:00, which was a pleasant surprise. I didn't have my watch on, and I was guessing it was at least 10:30\. It felt like I'd been in there four hours.

Today is my father's birthday, which he shares with Mary's parents, [Joachim & Anne](http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint%5Fid=22&ref=thedailyeudemon.com) (a feast day even the Anglicans recognize). Melvin (brother of Eldon and Vernon--my grandmother had a unique taste for names) is a first-generation immigrant. His parents came over from a German colony in Russia (pre-[1917](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian%5FRevolution%5Fof%5F1917?ref=thedailyeudemon.com)), His father was a tool-and-die maker with little respect for books. My father was a bookworm, who joined the Marines during the Korean War, went to college on the GI Bill, became a CPA, then a CFO with a NYSE company here in my hometown, where both of us still live. He's old-line German in the best ways, but without the harshness associated with the old country (though the belt threat was never far away, I caught it only once). He taught me the meaning of respect, honesty, duty, and learning. When I think about the crumbling family in America and how many children grow up without fathers, then compare it with my situation, I feel nauseous and grateful at the same time. I can't begin to count the blessings I enjoy because of my father. On the flip-side, we can't begin to count the deprivations children suffer because of absent fathers.