Eleven on the 11th!!!

As the date changed my daughter went from 10 years old to 11 years old. I cannot believe it has been 11 years to the day when my daughter came into this world. It does seem like yesterday when I saw her big blue beautiful eyes for the first time. That moment has forever been etched in my memory and I can still vividly see my wife’s doctor take this beautiful bundle of joy and pass her to my wife. I swear my eyes met with my daughter’s eyes when she was just seconds old and I just melted. I didn’t have a clue what unconditional love was but at that very moment I quickly learned.

I would do anything for both of my children and yes, I do hate the fact that I missed two years of their lives but today I know I am with them and I am doing my best to make the most of each and every day. I had taken my son to breakfast on his birthday three days ago and I made the same offer to my daughter. It was just my son and I on Sunday and I thought it would be great if it were just my daughter and me today. I wasn’t sure if my daughter would accept since today is a school day and she would have to wake up very early in order to go out for breakfast. I was extremely happy to hear my daughter accept and more than happy to see her this morning awake and ready to go much earlier than she wakes up on a school day. In fact my daughter even had time to shower prior to our going out to breakfast.

I greeted her in the hall and yes, it was unlike most mornings she greeted me with a wry smile. It is very apparent my daughter is more than capable to get up when she “wants” to and apparently she needs an incentive. I was very happy to provide this incentive and it was great spending the early morning with my now 11 year old daughter. My daughter chose the International House of Pancakes or more commonly known as the IHOP. This is her favorite restaurant for breakfast and unlike Denny’s on Sunday the IHOP was sparsely populated. My daughter ordered the happy face pancakes along with a hot chocolate. Yes, winter has returned to Southern California as this morning it was below freezing.

The birthday breakfast was great and we talked. I think this will become a tradition where I take out each of my children for breakfast on their birthdays as long as they are willing. My daughter was willing just as my son was willing on Sunday. Each breakfast was wonderful and it is equally as wonderful to have great conversations with my children on an individual basis. My daughter is turning into a woman and has a great head on her shoulders. She is consciousness, intelligent, beautiful, fun and overall a great kid!! I love her so much and yes, I would do anything for her. I am beyond blessed to be able to have a second chance with my family and today was one very special day.

The early morning birthday breakfast had ended and we had enough time to go home prior to my son departing for school. I did take them to school because my wife would be bringing in the birthday donuts later in the day and would walk home with them along with Grandma who was due to arrive this afternoon as well. I went about my day after dropping them off and I decided to take the day off from working out. It was a good thing I didn’t work out because I got a work out from work!! It was one of those days where one item consumed the day. I won’t go into the long drawn out story but I will say things happen for a reason and once again I saw this firsthand.

I spent the entire afternoon on the telephone trying to rectify a problem well beyond my control. The “Serenity Prayer” did come in handy and I had to express this sentiment to the partners at my company. The issue didn’t get resolved in the timely manner I had hoped but as things go everything did work out very well. I somehow got a promotion through this almost catastrophic event. The days of me working out of my home has ended and I realized a few weeks ago that I needed to go into an office for me to be efficient. I did get my “wish” and unfortunately this has come at someone else’s expense but again everything does happen for a reason and I believe everything will work out for all interested parties. It was an interesting day and the best part came early on when I was with my daughter for her birthday breakfast because life is all about family and my family is magnificent.