Things Every Dad Secretly Loves (But Will Never Admit)

🎙️ Episode 22: Things Every Dad Secretly Loves (But Will Never Admit)

When did Home Depot become our happy place?

Why do we all stand in the driveway admiring a freshly mowed lawn?

And seriously... who taught every dad to click the grill tongs twice before cooking?

In this episode of Mostly Me, Occasionally Wise, Brian takes a lighthearted look at the little things that seem to happen to every man once he becomes a dad. From lawn care and grilling to falling down the YouTube "how-to" rabbit hole, you'll probably recognize a little bit of yourself—or your own dad—in this episode.

Along the way, Brian also shares a personal milestone from his week and reflects on why it's often the simple moments that become the most meaningful memories.

Whether you're a dad, have a dad, or just enjoy a good laugh, this episode is packed with humor, nostalgia, and a reminder that showing up for the people you love is what matters most.

💬 We'd Love to Hear From You!

What's something every dad secretly loves?

📧 Email us: mostlymecontact@gmail.com

📱 Join the conversation on the Mostly Me, Occasionally Wise Facebook page.

🎧 This Episode is Sponsored by Opus Clip

Want to turn your podcasts or long-form videos into engaging clips for TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook, and YouTube Shorts?

I've been using Opus Clip to help grow Mostly Me, Occasionally Wise, and it's become an essential part of my content creation process.

Try it here and support the podcast at no additional cost to you:

👉 https://opus.pro/?via=MostlyMe

If you enjoyed this episode, please consider following the podcast, leaving a review, and sharing it with a friend. Your support helps Mostly Me, Occasionally Wise continue to grow.

Stay Mostly You, Occasionally Wise.

Thanks for listening to Mostly Me, Occasionally Wise.

If this episode meant something to you, take a second to follow the show, leave a rating, and share it with someone who needs to hear it. That’s how this podcast grows.

Join the group on Facebook by clicking the link below!

https://www.facebook.com/me/

Have a question, story, or topic idea?
 Email the show at mostlymecontact@gmail.com

(By emailing the show, you agree your message may be read on a future episode unless you request otherwise.)

Until next time — stay mostly you, and occasionally wise.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What happens to a man when he becomes a dad? One day you're making fun of your father for spending an hour at Home Depot, and the next thing you know, you're there on a Saturday morning and you don't even need anything. You suddenly care about the stripes in your lawn, you own way more flashlights than any human being should, and you click the grill tongs twice before you cook because apparently that's the law. This week we're talking about the things every dad secretly loves, even though we'll never admit it. Let's get into it. Whether you're driving to work, mowing the lawn, sitting in the garage, or maybe even hiding in the bathroom because it's the only quiet place in the house. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. If this is your first time listening, welcome. I hope you'll stick around. And if you're one of the ones that comes back every week, thank you so, so much. Seriously, it means more than you know. This podcast has become one of my favorite parts of the week because it's a chance to laugh, tell stories, reflect a little, and hopefully remind each other that none of us are figuring life out perfectly. We're honestly just doing the best we can. Today's episode is one of the ones I've been looking forward to because somewhere along the way, every man becomes a dad. And it's not something that happens overnight, it happens one habit at a time. One day you're making fun of your dad for standing in the driveway looking out at the yard. A few years later, you're the one standing in your own driveway looking at your own yard and thinking, those mowing lines have turned out so, so pretty. One day you own one flashlight, and then the next thing you know, you've got one in the garage, one in the truck, one in the kitchen junk drawer, and somehow you still can't figure out where they are when the power goes out. If you're a dad, you're going to recognize yourself today. And if you're not, maybe you'll finally understand the mysterious world of us dads. So, with that said, let's have some fun. Before we jump into today's topic, it is time for dad life debrief. It's an opportunity for you as the listener to join me throughout the week as a dad, husband, family man, chaos coordinator, everything in between. This week was was special because my wife went out of town Wednesday to go to her best friend's wedding in California. Congratulations, Desiree and Lewis. You guys deserve all the happiness, and I can't wait to celebrate with you in October. But Becca was headed to California, and she was going to be gone from Wednesday until Sunday evening. So that left me here with the boys. And I'm going to be honest with you, I was a little nervous at first because I'm thinking, if anything were to go wrong, it's going to happen when it's just me solo parenting. Whether it's, you know, my 13-year-old and I clashing or my four-year-old just having a rough week and we're clashing or something breaks. It's going to happen to where I'm not going to have Beck, you know, right there beside me as we tackle whatever's in front of us. Now, granted, I could, you know, her phone was on. I could have called her at any point, but I really made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to bother her as often this go around because she doesn't get to see her best friend very often because she lives in California. So I wanted to give her that time with her best friend. And I did a really good job. Something did break. Wednesday after I dropped back off at the airport, I went and picked up my four-year-old and my 13-year-old. And of course, what do guys do when mom's not around? We go to the local pizza joint. And we just had one open recently, literally right down the road. Amazing, amazing stuff. I had a pizza, my 13-year-old is all into wings, so he got some wings, which he really loved. And of course, my four-year-old is on a pizza kick as well. And and the thing is with this pizza joint, is they cook their pizza, you know, in a wood stove, like a wood fire stove, brick oven stove, excuse me. And so there's gonna be some burnt spots on this pizza. My four-year-old will not have anything to do with any kind of food that has a burnt spot, even barbecue, because you know, with barbecue, if there's burnt stuff on barbecue, it kind of adds to the flavor. And I kind of see his logic with all the other foods. Nobody it it it kind of ruins the food sometimes. But it was funny because he ordered a pizza, he got a cheese pizza, and it kind of his pizza resembled a leaf after a worm had gotten onto it. Because if you've ever seen a leaf when a worm eats on it, there's like little holes here and there, and that's what his pizza looked like. It was hilarious. I should have gotten a picture of it, but didn't even think about it. And so we came home and I noticed the house was hot. And for us in the south, late July through August, hottest time of the year. The humidity is at a all-time high, the temperatures are in the 100s, it's just miserable. And I walk in and I'm like, okay, it is warm in this house. So I go and check our thermostat and it's not even on. And I'm like, oh goodness. So the first thing I think to do is I go to our breaker, which is outside, and nothing has flipped. Everything is on, everything looks good. And then I get on YouTube and start looking around for answers, and I found my answer, and I could have done it. Like I just didn't have enough confidence in myself. And I'm at the age now to where if I don't have a whole lot of confidence in myself, I'm calling someone else to fix it because I don't want to further the damage and have to pay more than I should have. So we called the AC guys, they came out the next morning. We just needed to clean some stuff out in our water heater, whatever it's called. Yeah, I'm not very educated when it comes to heating and cooling and all that, but there was some water that needed to be cleaned out, and he fixed it. It wasn't cheap, but it wasn't expensive, which I'm thankful for. We got the air up and running, so all is well in the house again. But like I said, Becca was going to be gone from Wednesday until Sunday night. It was just me and the kids, and it was so much fun. You know, 13-year-old got to stay up a little later. We had fun pulling pranks on each other, staying with the four-year-old. We were just able to be guys. We walked around in our boxers and stuff like that. And I say it kind of low because my 13-year-old would probably be like, No, you don't need to tell everybody in the world that I walked around in my boxers. I mean, come on, all guys do it. But it was just it was fun because it was also a lot of bonding. Even though we didn't do a whole lot, there was a lot of bonding going on. Saturday was rough because on the weekends, my four-year-old doesn't have preschool. And so, you know, on the nights that I work beforehand, going into a day that my kid is, you know, not going to be at preschool, it's tough for me to sleep. Fortunately, I had my brother and sister-in-law, and they watched him for a while, and I got a little sleep, but I also banked on the fact that I would go and pick him up, he would come back home, we'd lay down for a nap, and I'd get a little more sleep. No, that did not happen. My four-year-old wasn't having it. And it was one of those moments where I was like, okay, this isn't a battle I'm going to fight today because mentally I just I can't do it. So we just hung out. We watched some TV, watched some monster jam, something like that. And we just hung out until it was time for me to go to work. And then Sunday was the same. We went to church Sunday morning. Amazing lesson. I really wish my wife would have been there. She'd have really benefited from it too. But we came home, we ate some leftovers, and you know, I told my 13-year-old, four-year-old and I are going to lay down for a nap. He passed, my four-year-old passed right out once we got in my bed. It was beautiful because I got a little sleep. And then we hung out until we got to go pick up Becca from the airport. And it's funny because my wife teases me all the time, I don't like being late for things. And so we get to the airport 30 minutes early before she's landing. And we kind of hang out. And my 13-year-old is like, dude, it's we had to pick up Becca at midnight. And it's 11:30 at night. And he's like, dude, why are we here so early? And I was like, you never know, something may happen. The plane comes early. We just need to be prepared. And so we hung out. And of course, we started talking about, you know, how cool it would be to take a red-eye flight somewhere. You know, we looked at the ticket prices for a red-eye flight. It's insanely cheap to take a red-eye flight, apparently. We talked about the cool places, you know, it would be cool to go to and got the four-year-old involved and things like that. And another powerful bonding moment. My four-year-old almost failed twice going up the escalator and going down the escalator. For some reason, he wanted to lean on the wall, realized the wall of the escalator doesn't move with the escalator, it stays still. So his body is going up as the escalator's going down, and vice versa. And Bubba had to catch him a couple of times. We had a good laugh about it. But of course, when mom walked through the gate, the four-year-old ran up to her and jumped in her arms, and we drove home. And it's just I'm glad that she's back. I really am. It's funny because you don't really understand how much you miss your spouse or your significant other until they're gone for an extended period of time. Nothing, you know, nothing chaotic happened, nothing crazy happened, but she was really missed because it's just kind of a it's like a piece of your normalcy wasn't there. Your comfort, and you know, to me, Becca's my best friend. And there were times I wanted someone to talk to, you know, have adult conversations with. I can't really do that with my 13-year-old, but uh nonetheless, I'm glad she got to go on this trip. I'm glad she got to celebrate with her best friend. But at the same time, I'm also glad she's home. We really missed her, and of course, it was an amazing opportunity to buy with the boys, and it was something I'll I'll I'll cherish forever. Another thing, this morning I was going to Sam's, and Tuesdays are our grocery days, and like I said, I was going to Sam's and I pulled in the parking lot and noticed there was a line all the way around the corner of the store back to the dumpsters. And I'm like, what in the world is going on? And I'm thinking, okay, maybe there's an autograph signing, maybe some chef is going to be here today. Sam's is partnering up with the chef, and they're, you know. But when I got in line, I started talking to the person next to me, and there's a Pokemon card being released. And I was like, oh, that's cool. You know, the hype's still real for things like this, because you know, a lot of things are done online nowadays. And I talk to my 13-year-old all the time about how, you know, we used to have to stand in line sometimes for hours for a video game release or for concert tickets or whatever, because we didn't, you know, we didn't have the internet, you know, 24-7 like he does now. So it was kind of cool to stand in line and I talked to him a little bit about the the days of Pokemon cards when I was a kid and what it what it led to now and how just insanely huge it's become. I mean, I was aware Pokemon was a big thing, but I just didn't realize how big. So it was kind of cool to see and experience that nostalgia sort of. Now I didn't get any Pokemon cards, but it was just cool talking to someone that was younger than I was and seeing the the excitement on his face and things like that. So it's kind of cool to see that some of that nostalgia stuff still takes place when it comes to big releases of Pokemon cards or things like that. So that was kind of cool to experience, but this week has been great. And uh oh, my 13-year-old just went, huh? So I'm gonna pause in a minute and kind of explain to him about the Pokemon cards. Well, that was a fun conversation. My son and I now have a game plan in place for the next Pokemon card drop that he wants to attend and stand in line or however it works. So that's really cool. That's another memory we're going to be able to create. So, enough with dad life debrief, let's get on with the show. Can we all agree on something? Home Depot hits differently once you become a dad. When you're younger, you walk in, you buy what you need, you walk out, simple as that. But then one day something changes. You become a homeowner. Maybe you become a dad, maybe you're both, and suddenly Home Depot becomes an adventure. It becomes your Disneyland. You walk in needing one light bulb, just one light bulb, and 45 minutes later you've looked at grills, compared pressure washers, walked through the Lumber aisle just because you like the smell. You picked up three cordless drills, you've compared toolboxes, and you somehow ended up looking at patio furniture. You don't even have a project. You're just looking. And if someone asks what you're doing, you say, I'm getting ideas. Ideas for what? You don't even know yet, but someday, someday, you'll need one of those ideas. I mean, Home Depot isn't shopping anymore for me. It's it's sightseeing, it's it's a museum for dads, and honestly, I love every second of it. Now, once you spend an hour wandering around Home Depot, eventually you'll come home with a project. Or maybe, just maybe, you come home with a bag of grass seeds and fertilizer because somewhere along the way, every dad develops a relationship with his lawn. 100% true. Nobody tells you when it's gonna happen, it just does. One day you're driving through the neighborhood, and I'm totally guilty of this. I do this all the time, actually. And instead of looking at the houses, you start looking at everyone's grass, and you start thinking, man, Bob's yard is really looking good this year. Or you catch yourself wondering, you know, what what kind of fertilizer is he using? I never honestly thought I would wonder that. Because his yard looks so pretty, you're kind of you're kind of envious and you kind of want that yard in return. Honestly, though, like when did that become a normal conversation? I don't I don't have any idea, but you mow slower, you mow straighter, you you trim the edges, you blow off the clippings that are on the driveway, and then once you've completed this, you step back with your hands on your hips and that in that in that phenomenal dad pose and you admire it. And nobody else notices. Your kids don't care. Sure you might. Your wife might come and say out of support, it looks nice. And then she goes back inside. And honestly, that's okay. You didn't mow it for compliments. You mowed it because it gives you it gives you this weird sense of satisfaction. There's something peaceful about it, though. There's no emails, no meeting, no deadlines, just you, the mower, and the smell of fresh cut grass. And maybe maybe that's why dads love it so much. It's one of the actual times that we just we s we slow down. Now, once we finish the line, you know exactly what comes next. It's time to fire up the grill. There's something about grilling that changes a man. You're not just cooking hamburgers, you're honestly, and I'm guilty of this. You're honestly hosting your own show on the Food Network. The apron goes on, the spatula comes out, and before you cook a single burger, you have to do it. The beautiful sound of the click click of the grill tongs. And you have to do it exactly twice, and and nobody knows why. Maybe maybe it's just the law. But every dad does it. And while you're you're in the middle of this, someone walks out and asks, Need any help? And you just turn and smile and say, Nope, I've got this. You stand over the grill like you've trained for this moment your whole life. You move burgers around like it's a chess match. The hot spots over here, and these you know, these need another moment. You can't rush greatness. And then the kids come out. When's dinner gonna be done? And in that moment, every dad gives the exact same answer. It'll be done when it's done. And of course you're met with huffing and puffing and eye rolling, but you don't have time for that negativity. There's something about cooking outside that just feels differently. Maybe maybe it's because everyone gathers around, maybe it's because the smell reminds us of summer's growing up, or maybe every dad secretly believes that food tastes better because he grilled it. And honestly, I think we're right. Now, while those burgers are cooking, what do a lot of dads do? We pull out our phones, not for social media, but for something much more important. I don't know exactly when this happened, but every dad eventually enrolls in YouTube university. Need to replace a faucet? There's a video. Need to repl you know, need to fix your lawnmower? There's a video. Need to smoke the perfect brisket. There's about 10,000 of those. Need to replace the bare the brakes on your truck. Some guy in his garage has a 45-minute tutorial and somehow we trust him. And it makes me laugh because I'm totally, totally guilty of this. You start searching how to replace a kitchen faucet, and 20 minutes later, you're watching a guy restore a rusty wrench he found buried in a field. Then it's someone building a log cabin with nothing but hand tools. Then there's another guy forging a knife out of an, you know, out of an old railroad bike. And you're completely invested. The wife walks by, you know, before and asks, What are you watching? And honestly, I don't even know anymore, but I'm too far in to stop now. Then comes the sentence every dad has said at least once. I watched this guy on YouTube. Like those five words instantly make us qualified to fix anything, you know, to fix anything. And sometimes it actually works. Other times it ends up with three trips to Home Depot, a few extra parts, and maybe one or two words the kids probably shouldn't hear. But here's the thing I think dads love learning. We love figuring things out, we love problem solving. Even if we mess it up the first time, we'll watch another video and give it another shot because that's what dads do. So we've talked about Home Depot, the lawn, the grill, and YouTube University, but let's be honest, there are a whole bunch of little things dads secretly love. Some will admit, some maybe not. Like a brand new pair of socks. I don't know what it is. I mean, when you're a kid, socks are the worst things you could get as a gift. But when you become a dad, you get excited about socks. You're like, man, these are nice socks. And when you put them on for the first few times, there's a magical feeling. And I am this way with socks, but mainly wool socks. And I don't know what it is about wool socks. I get teased all the time by Becca because I'll wear them during the summer. But just having wool socks on my feet is just it's just comfort, and it's just crazy to think about. And I never thought as a man that I would just appreciate a good pair of socks like I do, but I do. Next, we have coffee. And the thing about coffee, and it's not about the fancy coffee, it really isn't. It's it's the coffee before the rest of the house wakes up. It's that first cup. And and it's not because, like I said, it's the fancy coffee, it's not because it's the best cup you've ever had. It's honestly because it's quiet. For five glorious minutes, nobody needs anything from you. Ugh. Just thinking about it gets me excited for tomorrow morning. Next thing is an organized garage. Now, it may only stay organized for a day or two, but for the day that it is organized, you know exactly where everything is. You know where the flashlights are, the pocket knives, the extension cords, zip ties. You know where all of that is because you'll never know when you need them. Next is finding a good deal. I have learned to appreciate smart shopping and finding good deals. And it doesn't matter if it's a new grill, a pack of batteries, or 20% off at the hardware store. Every dad loves saying, you know what I paid for this? That's a phrase I honestly never thought I would appreciate saying, but I do, especially when it comes to smart shopping and finding deals. The next thing, and I do this all the time. I did it this morning, actually, and I'll probably do it again this afternoon. Watching the weather. And and the and the funny thing about uh the watching the weather is a lot of times we don't even have plans. But somehow you know there's a 40% chance of rain after 3 p.m. And who are we gonna tell? No one, because no one has asked, but you're gonna tell them anyways. And then there's the recliner. I wish we had one here at the house. I miss having ours. And and the funny thing about the recliner is every dad has done it. You close your eyes for about 10 minutes, and someone walks in and says, Dad, you sleeping? And you're like, No, I'm just resting my eyes. I mean, it's practically written into the dad handbook. And I'm guilty of it. But I snore when I sleep, so I can keep throwing that excuse out there that I was just resting my eyes and I wasn't asleep. But everyone in the house knows, and and dads know too. But if I'm being honest about all of this, one of my favorite things that I just secretly love and appreciate is when our kids ask for help. Whether it's fixing a you know, whether it's fixing a bike, you know, helping with homework, teaching them how to grill, or just even asking for advice, those moments, those are the ones we live for. We may joke, we may pretend we're too busy, but deep down, those moments are the ones that matter the most. You know, talking about this reminded me of something. The older I get, the more I understand my dad. Now, my dad and I didn't have the greatest of relationships, but he did all of these things I've talked about in this episode. You know, I when I was younger, I laughed at all those little habits. Standing in the driveway, watching the grill like it was the Super Bowl, walking down every aisle at you know, at Home Depot, watching the the the random repair videos once the internet became a big thing on YouTube or just on Google or Yahoo or whatever it was at the time. And and now I get it. None of those things were really about the lawn or the grill or the tools. They were honestly about taking pride in something, providing for your family, building a home, fix you know, fixing what needed needed fixing, learning something new, making memories without even realizing it. Being a dad isn't about having all the answers. It's about showing up every single day. Sometimes showing up means teaching your kids how to ride a bike, sometimes it means staying up late, you know, to help with homework, sometimes it means standing over the grill while everyone else laughs and have fun in the backyard. But years from now, my kids probably won't even remember how straight my mowing lines were. They they won't remember what brand of grill I had. They definitely won't remember how many YouTube videos I've watched. But I hope they remember that I was there, that I laughed with them, that I loved them, I showed up, because in the end, that's what being a dad is really all about. Before we wrap up, I've got a challenge for you. What's something every dad secretly loves? Or or what's the most dad thing you've ever caught yourself doing? I'd love to hear these stories. Send me send me an email at mostlymecontact at gmail.com or join the conversation on our Mostly Me Occasionally Wise Facebook page. Your story might even be featured in an upcoming episode. And if you enjoyed today's episode, I'd really appreciate it if you share it with, you know, share it with a friend, share it with a dad. Every share, follow, rating, and review helps this podcast grow a little. And I'm grateful for every single one of you. And of course, before we go, I want to thank Opus Clips for sponsoring today's episode. If you're creating content and want to turn your long videos or podcast into amazing clips for social media, give them a, you know, give them a shot. Check them out. Of course, my link, my affiliate link, will be in the podcast description below. Using that link helps support mostly me occasionally wise at no additional cost to you, and I truly appreciate your support. Thank you so much for spending your you know a part of your day with me. And remember, life doesn't have to be perfect to be meaningful. Sometimes the best moments are the simple ones a freshly mowed lawn, burger on the grill, a project you learn from a guy on TikTok, or on YouTube, depending on where you're watching, or just hearing your kids laugh in the backyard. Don't rush through those moments. They're the ones that stick with us. Until next time, they mostly you, occasionally wise, and we'll see.