Ouch – Father/Kid’s Day 2024

This was a big weekend. Saturday, June 1, was both World Children’s Day and Monki had a guitar “concert.” Then, Sunday, was Father’s Day here in Lithuania. Plus, it was also the first day of Lithuanian summer. So, as I say, it was packed. 

The guitar thing started last year. Monki decided she wanted a guitar and we made her promise that if she got one, she would take lessons and practice. Thing is, we actually got one for her back before her birthday, but, being parents of an only child, we tend to overbuy. Therefore, we had several large gifts last July and decided to hold off on gifting the guitar. We figured it would work just as well as a Christmas gift so it stayed in the box, in the back of the closet. Come Christmas morning, there was lots of excitement and strumming of strings, and once again, the promise of practice was extracted. 

From that point, we did our due diligence and eventually found a place where she could take lessons once a week after school. She loved going to lessons and was excited to come back and tell us all about the notes she learned. But then, that was it. The guitar would stay in its case until the next week’s lesson. This has been the battle since the start of the year. I don’t want to force it and drive her away from something she enjoys, but at the same time, a little bit of practice is the only way to improve. I explained to her that as long as she was practicing, I would continue to pay for lessons. But if she didn’t practice, then there was no point. She asked if I would take her guitar away. 

“Of course not,” I responded. “That’s your guitar and I wouldn’t take your things away. But you can show me you want me to continue paying for lessons if you practice to get better.”

Then, a few weeks ago, she actually did practice a few times during the week. That Monday, at class, teacher noticed and told her that it was obvious she’d been practicing! She was ecstatic. She still “forgets” to practice but at least she understands the necessity. Then came the end of the school year. 

It seems these classes are operated along the same timeline as the regular school, which means now, end of May, lessons will stop until September. In order to mark the cessation, a small concert/recital is held. Monki was overjoyed! The kid loves performing and sharing with others. When she learns something new, her first request is for me to film her doing it and she sets up the video as if she has her own YouTube tutorial channel. 

She even practiced her two songs in order to be ready when the time came…which it did last Saturday. 

Monki was so excited she even made invitations for her teacher and her school friend Saulė. 

The concert was held at noon in a small performance space at the main branch of the city library. We got there at 11:30 and she had a brief rehearsal. There were only two students at her level…herself and a 20 something woman (proving there’s never a bad time to start learning something new). They were the first of the guitar players to perform and speaking as a proud, tone-deaf father, Monki nailed it. She knocked it out of the park. She played with confidence and tempo and accuracy. Both Rasa and I were holding back tears. It was so great to see her shine like that. Our neighbor Marija, who has taken on the role of local grandmother, came and brought Monki flowers. 

All in all, a very positive experience and Monki is excited to start up lessons again in the fall. Hopefully, she’ll practice a bit between now and then. 

The rest of Saturday was spent celebrating Kid’s Day. There was one little hiccough due to slight bit of selfishness from an almost 8-year-old, but we talked it out, apologies were made and we went to the park and to get slushies in the rain. 

Before bed, Rasa asked me what I wanted to do for Father’s Day. I joked and said sleep late* and sit on the couch and read. This was not to be. Instead, we were woken fairly early and Monki delivered the paper she had made for me in school.** Then she played me a song she had written for me on her guitar (a version of Happy Birthday but was Happy Daddy’s Day instead). 

That was when Rasa hit us up with her plan. 

It was a beautiful day outside, she reasoned, so we should go out to nature and do something. One of the things she’d always wanted to try was a barefoot walking trail. Evidently this was a thing. The idea was you walk through the woods barefoot, and along the trail there are all sorts of sensory things to step on/over/through. Luckily, it turned out there was one about 20km away from Kaunas, in the Lithuanian village of Switzerland. 

Thus, it was decided. We had lunch at McDonald’s and headed off to the Basakojų takas (Barefoot Trail) at Survilų Sodyba.

At this point, let me make a slight diversion into my rant about Lithuanian business practices. So we get to this place and the girl working is bored to tears. Seriously, getting her to look up from her phone is almost impossible (and yes, we could have just walked past her and stated the route without paying, and I guarantee she not only wouldn’t have noticed, but wouldn’t have done anything if she did…but we’re good people). The total for the three of us was €22, a bit pricey, but whatever. We were there so we were going through with it. They didn’t take credit cards, so we handed over €30 (a10 and a 20). She couldn’t make change. Not that she didn’t know she needed to give us €8 back, but they didn’t have cash on hand. In the end, we had to do a bank transfer. Honestly, just ridiculous. It’s like these people don’t actually want to do business. 

Anyway, with payment secured, we headed out on the trail. It started with rocks. Yes, rocks. The path was demarcated by wooden troughs, about a foot and a half wide and 30 feet long, filled with various things to walk on. The first was rocks. Then there was glass and pinecones and those weird reiki spikes. There were raised logs with guide ropes and swinging bridges. There were wooden planks over a pond. All of this was before we entered the forest proper. So really, about 200 meters in and the most common refrain from all of us was “Ouch!”

Following the path into the forest things got a little dicey. The weird things to walk on were still present, but now we also had to contend with mud bogs, mosquitos, and ants. The latter two had realized there was a rolling feast coming through and made the most of the delivered meal.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t stop!” yelled Rasa from behind Monki and me. “Keep going! Faster!”

These were yelled in-between the rousing choruses of “ouch” coming from all of us. 

Monki, however, was nailing it. She was having a great time and leading our pack of three. Sure, there were plenty of times I needed to walk alongside her, holding her hand for balance, and once I had to carry her over some particularly nasty bits, but overall, she was having a great time. Rasa and me, though, not so much. 

Eventually, after walking over old tires and astroturf and wet hay, we completed the two-kilometer trail, ending back where we started. We now understood the benches with several water spigots poised over them as we sat and tried to wash the tar-like mud from our legs (we all had to take showers when we got home to finish the job). Ultimately, we enjoyed the day, and were glad we did it…but we never have to do it again. 

And Rasa is now on notice when she suggests an outdoor activity. 

* Maybe it’s a kid thing, but on weekends, Monki is up at 5am and ready to go. During the week, however, she sleeps like a log and we have a heck of a time trying to wake her up for school.

** When she originally wrote it out, it was in Lithuanian (and some parts still are) but teacher told her she should do it in English so I would understand it.