I Do What I Want

Greetings friends and family,

A weird thing happened Monday night...  After working a full shift at my "day job" I went home to greet Kendra and the twins.  I asked Kendra, "what's on the schedule for tonight?"  She thought for a minute and said, "nothing."  I stood there in shock for a few moments before it hit me.  There was nothing urgent or critical that must be done on Monday night.  I could choose which of the many items on my "to do" list to tackle.  That doesn't sound like a major discovery, but because of the hectic nature of the past three weeks or so it was a foreign concept.  The mundane things I accomplished Monday evening were a breath of fresh air.  I felt so empowered!  Looking forward to more evenings this upcoming week to do what I want.  Now... off to create a to do list of things I want to accomplish.

Anyway, that one day event was short lived because I took off work Tuesday and Wednesday to implement the new people management software for our church.  Matt, the guy the software company sent to help us, turned out to be a great guy.  After our work day was done (the first day I ever met him) he asked for directions to go hiking somewhere.  I offered to go with him and we spent the rest of the day hanging out.  We went for a hike up South Mountain to show him the local flavor and the cityscape.  

Mom and Kendra made dinner for us and him.  Afterwards we sat at the kitchen table for about three hours talking and telling stories.  He's an interesting guy with book-worthy moments through his life.  Since he lives in Dallas I doubt we'll ever hang out again, but it was great to meet someone new and invite him into our world for an evening.

He complimented Easton and Layla for being so outgoing and friendly.  He has four kids of his own so he has lots of kid experience.  Even so, he was still impressed with their confidence and kindness.

Layla is bummed about the closure of the ice skating rink for the summer, but we are getting in one last hoo-rah between now and them.  For her class, Layla was the only one to show up so she had one on one attention from the instructor.  It was a private lesson for a group price! Afterwards I trusted her to dry off her own skates and put them away.  I've always been taught to take care of my stuff and I want to pass on that expectation.  doesn't matter that her skates are used and have a few scuff marks.  They still deserve to be taken care of properly.

On her way into the lobby area she excited begged, "Daddy, can I skate forever?  I don't ever want to stop skating!"  I assured her that as long as it is within my power to support her that she can skate as much as she wants.  Her instructor said Layla was the happiest skater she has ever met.  She even brought Layla back a gift from her honeymoon last week.

I've been talking about planning a Daddy date for the past few days.  After ice skating Layla reminded me that Wednesday was the day I said we would go.  Being a man of my word, we went to her closet after dinner to pick out her outfit.  She said she's been saving her new snow white costume for this night.  I agreed she could wear it because there's no reason not to.  She carried her wand and purse while holding my hand through the mall.

The mall was fairly empty, but there were still several kids and adults who waved at Layla as we passed.  Groups of moms pointed and smiled.  I don't mind.  Layla is convinced her smile is contagious.  I want to keep that belief in her heart as long as possible.

I took her to the perfume and jewelry store.  She's never been to a perfume store so we smelled a variety of scents and guessed what the smell is like.  She talked me into sharing cookie because it was a special time.  Not that it took her much arm-twisting.  This was my favorite part of our time together because we just sat and talked about the most random topics.  Sometimes I like to just BE with Layla.  We are both adventurers at heart, but some of these moments are the most valuable when the adventure is just our conversation.

I know this post didn't have much related to Easton.  Stay tuned!  His Daddy time is tonight.

See you soon!