"Process" Can be Confusing

The evenings seem to go even faster than the days. I don’t know where the evenings have gone over this past week. Monday was a whirlwind, Tuesday much of the same and last night I can barely remember what happened. I do know it beyond fantastic to be with my family at the end of the day even for those few hours. The children are doing exceptionally well and I am watching my 11 year old mature before my very own eyes. My daughter is still rather small for her age especially compared to her friends but her features are maturing. Yes, in less than two years she will be an official teenager but I hope she will always be my “little girl”. This is another example of the power that time has in this world. It seems like just yesterday we were introduced as I gazed into her big beautiful eyes for the first time and my heart has never been the same since. Now 11 years later she is turning into a beautiful young woman. I wouldn’t be truthful if I didn’t mention that she does have her “moments” where my wife and I both yearn for those tender years but I so happy how well she is developing mentally.

The credit goes to my wife for keeping things “normal” in a very abnormal period those two years and the transition back to our complete family life has been seamless. I am fortunate and it is those small moments where I watch my daughter doing her homework at the kitchen table and just smile knowing how well things are. Nearly four years ago I pulled the rug out from my family but now four years later that rug has been reinstalled and it is a much nicer plusher version fully installed and hopefully not going anywhere! It is so cool to just to be an observer and also to know in spite of being labeled the “mean” Dad both my children want to be with me. My daughter in spite of her nearing teenager status constantly wants me to pick her up and hold her which I find totally wonderful. My son is most times at my side when he stops his activities and yes, my family is incredible.

This morning I decided to take the day off from working out because I was a little tired. My son’s has developed the habit of sleepwalking over the past few months and since I am such a light sleeper I am usually awaken with his nocturnal activity. The other night my wife discovered that my son had gone downstairs while sleepwalking which is fairly scary but he only went downstairs for a minute and came back up where my wife guided him back to his bedroom. I have witnessed this as well as my son goes downstairs but comes right back up all while he is sleeping. Last night in the wee hours of the morning I was startled to see my son standing at the foot of our bed. He wasn’t doing anything other than just standing there and yes, he was asleep so I just guided him back to his bedroom where he went back to bed. As I went back to our bedroom I heard the bathroom door open and close several times and I discovered that my son got out of bed to use the bathroom. After a few minutes he finally went back to his bed and fell into a deep sleep with no more sleep walking activity.

I do have a difficult time getting back to sleep when I am awakened in the middle of the night. I basically stayed awake for at least another hour so when my usual wake up time came I didn’t have the energy to get out of bed and beside I find I do need a day of rest after my intense workout session. This also gave me more rest but also allowed me to get to the office early. I needed to get to the office early because Thursdays are the whirlwind days just like Mondays with my wife going to her work. Today was especially busy because not only did my daughter have softball practice my son had baseball practice. The practice sessions weren’t exactly near one another and with the afternoon start time I had to give myself enough time to get them to both practices in time. This made the day go even faster and after putting out “fires” all morning I looked at my watch and realized I had just one more hour until I had to go leaver the office.

Yes, the day was over in an instant and as I departed the office I did wander what I got accomplished but the thoughts of the office vanished as I went home and saw my children. They were ready to go and after I made a quick change of my work clothes we were headed off to their practices. I got my daughter to her practice in plenty of time and from there I went with my son to his practice. I didn’t think I would be helping out with my son’s team this season but one of the coaches had quit so I volunteered my services. I do like this much better as I was involved with the practice helping the boys throw and catch. There are difficult skill levels on the team and some boys are more advanced than others but it is great to see it when the boy who isn’t as accomplished as others grasps a concept and when they received a compliment to see the smiles on their faces. I didn’t think of work at all as I spent the 90 minutes at my son’s practice and I am so happy to help anyway I can.