Today, I finally had a day for which I have been waiting more than three decades to experience. Today, I came one-step closer to understanding my parents and all they did for my brothers and me. Today was a good day.
A little over a week ago, our daughter asked if she could have a Back-to-School party. She did not want anything too big just a handful of friends. She told us that she would plan it all. She just wanted a day to celebrate that last of summer and the going back to school. Since she has never really asked for big get togethers, we agreed. She did as promised. She put together the list, the activities, the food list, and needed items. We sent out the evites, shopped, and got the house together. My wife and I prepared for the eight-girl invasion. We even added to the shopping with a slip-and-slide. We prepared and waited.
The girls came. We had a lot of water play. Water balloons flew. The slip-and-slide was never empty. The music blared. The squeals and laughter filled the air. They only sat still long enough to work on a puzzle in hopes of winning some Ikes and Mikes or to eat from the table of snacks and pizza. The joked, the played, the swung, and they enjoyed one another’s company. The time flew by.
So to many a reader this may sound like a typical get together of children. What could possibly make it so special?
I can remember being in high school and my English teachers would have us write about what our future would be like. They wanted us to imagine where life would take us, how we would live, what we wanted to get out life. I was boring, but I always had the same vision.
While I envisioned a career or two, for me these assignments always revolved around the home life. My thoughts went to what it would be like around my house when I was old. While, at that time, I thought my house would be filled with kids, today I only. I imagined coming home to a white –picket fenced home with children happy with life. I thought of having a loving wife who was a partner in all I did. I, in my mind, saw a Hollywood style life.
This afternoon I sat there on our back porch watching the kids play. My wife and I sat there talking about life. We sat there watching all the fun that was happening in the backyard. I stopped talking with my wife long enough to fill a hundred water balloons (thank goodness for that new invention). I sprayed the slide down to make a waterslide. I even set up all of the nail polish for an impromptu salon. Mostly, I watched and realized that those visions from all those years ago finally happened. My English papers had become reality.
After three short hours, a lot of pizza, cake, candy, the Descendants 2 soundtrack many times over, it came to an end. Parents came to pick up their children. Good-byes were said and said again. Then quiet.
The clean up was short. Then my wife, our daughter, and I sat down to watch ET. She met the little alien for the first time and loved him.
We will finish off the night outside looking for the meteor shower. I am sitting here watching my family, not so much the movie. I am smiling.
Today, I learned why my parents put up with so many kids always coming to our house. I learned why my dad started a youth group. Today I realized how much my parents loved my brothers and me.
Today I stopped work. I have so much left to do, but I stopped the world. It ended at the start of the drive. I put the phone down. I didn’t turn on the computer. Today, my only reason for being was for the title Dad. I learned that days like toda
y would start happening more often. Our daughter is now of the age where our house can become a hang out. Today, I remembered that it is not always about providing as much as it is being.
I thank our daughter for making the world stop. I thank my wife for stopping with me.
I hope that each and every one of you finds your own day like today.
Thank you for meandering with me.