My chubby 1 year old cuts through silent chaos to remind daddy to love.

I guess that often you have days like mine. Days where you tell the wife, "hey I will be home in an hour", and that hour turns into two. Well recently I had one of those where I called Carly with my intended arrival and could hear the kids in the background grinding away at her patients. 

When I finally arrive home, late, I notice dinner sitting coldly on the counter. Carly was finishing the boys bath.  I could tell I was walking into tense moment. Dinner was reheated and plates abruptly put on the table. Each boy was put in their seat. 

Carly and I both had one of those days and shared very little in way of conversation. You know kids never just behave. Each screaming their own dinner objections. Ethan whines about his nuggets and choice of juice cup. Connor pushes away his bottle. Carly and I fire back with frustrated grunts and a "just sit there". Carly hands Connor a musical greeting card to keep him busy. Ethan continues his protests.  

Then in an unexpected moment of silence Connor, my chubby one year, old opens the greeting card. The first utterance of noise encouraged Conner's biggest smile. The song begins to play " All my love my darling, I hunger for your touch." I began to feel again. My eyes warmed with emotion. Just about cried on that one. 

See this was the card left over from Mother's day. It seems lessons memorialized on such a day can be forgotten so quickly. My son helped me remember how much I love the one who does so much.

Unexpected smiles

Every Sunday I find myself in the smile business. I encourage greeters to welcome people into our church. Some their first time in church.  Churches are so concerned with a welcoming atmosphere they spend millions on environments and higher staff to make sure people feel comfortable. 

Yet, I found myself at an event that correlated with our current series, swetin to the 80's. An 80's skate night.  Complete with a costume contest, and couples skate. Being the 80's generation the staff loved the idea. As of last Sunday we had a few sign-ups for the event and even if it flopped at least we would have some fun. 

People started trickling in on a Tuesday night. Most adorned with some sort of 80's garb. Some went over the top. Shaved mullets, incredibly tight leather pants, and who can forget all the neon. Heres who I didn't expect to show up. People who were barely alive in the 80's and adults who were past there prime in the 80's. We had them both, and everybody in between. People who had never skated and those who had some left over skills strutted their stuff. 

As the night wore on I realized the greatest phenomena, Smiles. Real legitimate smiles. Our age group is so jaded. We find hope in our pessimism. We rejoice in failure. But of this brief moment all the oil prices faded. For a brief moment the election was forgotten. People were having fun. I guess we all get used to being happy enough to think everything is all right. When was the last time we just had a blast? Tuesday, May 20th at 6:30pm.

The last Lecture

This is the story I might have told some of you about. Its all over the internet, Oprah and 20/20.  The part that really hit me is telling the truth. Not that I like lying is easy but difficult conversations need to happen. Often I wonder how much more I would lay it all out on the table if I had nothing to loose. The long version is worth watching. But the short version from Oprah or 20/20 gives a fair summery of his story. Randy's non-spiritual truths make me look at where I spend my time. 

 

Enjoy the long version.

Enjoy the short ABC Version ....Great....

You'll shoot your eye out.

My wife and son return home from Target where somehow he received a reward of a toy. In fact two squirt guns. His first sentence to me was " these are for the pool and you can't point them at people." Shortly there after Dad and Ethan go out side to play with these weapons of mass amusement. Mom is off on another errand. After watering the garden with the guns dad's squirter turns to Ethan's legs. Oops did I do that? Dad asks. Before long dad and son are in an all out squirt war. Ethan says "We just can't get my jammies wet."  Soon there after Mom returns only to see dad and son covered in water. Most can guess where this goes, mom runs for cover as her men lob gallons of liquid fun in her direction. 

Some rules are made to be broken. Guns are serious and safety adds sobriety to many moments between father and son, but breaking free from rules together is liberating. Dad catches himself when he sounds like a personal injury attorney rather than adventure mate. 

In a final moment of rule breaking dads squirt gun runs out of WATER. What to do. Ethan offers his remaining squirts in turns. We proudly stood as civil war combatants, each taking turns shooting at the other with bursts of laughter in-between.