Week 36 – Tom

Children are a blessing..and raising your kids can be a challenge. How about helping to raise someone else’s kids as your own?

That’s Tom’s story.

Tom is helping to raise two children, four and six years of age. He picks them up on Saturday mornings and takes them back to their mother on Sunday evenings. So, is Tom divorced? No, these are not his biological children, nor children from a relationship. These are the children of his former girlfriend, years after they broke-up. Tom was determined to see that these kids had a father figure in their life.

So, he picks them up on Saturday mornings and plays dad for the weekend. Not just once in a while. Every weekend. He plans activities or just allows the kids to be kids in his Olde Towne Bellevue home/yard/neighborhood.

Tom isn’t a weekend warrior, he’s a weekend papa. He’s known as “papa” to the kids and even though their mom (Tom’s ex-girlfriend) is planning to get married and they will have a new dad, Tom will continue to be their papa and Tom will continue to have them on the weekends.

Tom is the cook at Farren’s, located on 72^nd street near Highway 370. He is a great cook. Based on my review of the hand-made Reuben rolls or the cheeseburger and waffle fries, Tom is arguably the best cook in Sarpy County. Everything that I’ve had at Farren’s has been excellent!

Tom is a 1990 graduate of Bellevue East High School. It was back in high school that his passion for cooking began.

When I talk to Tom, it’s as if I am talking to a guy that has it all. Maybe he does. He’s calmly happy and easy to talk to. It’s obvious to me that he genuinely cares for these two kids…his two kids.

What a great gift he is giving them!