To Our Favorite Dad

Well, as hard as I tried to get it done on time, my Father's Day post to Scotty is LATE. Our weekend was more than hectic...it was chaotic. We had a baseball tournament for Caleb, a wedding for my cousin, and a couple of birthday parties in the mix as well.

Saturday morning, Claire and I had to be at a brunch, Scotty and the boys had to buy a birthday present and get to a birthday party (for like 45 minutes) and then get to the field for a series of ballgames. My sister, Claire and I were about 20 minutes late for our brunch, and I told Sassy that I have learned to embrace the fact that most of what I do is late these days.

It is during crazy weekends like this one that I am most thankful for Scotty. At 10:00 Friday night, after several games and a Rehearsal dinner, I gave him his agenda for Saturday morning. You know...get up, get the boys ready, buy a birthday present, get Collin to the birthday party and Caleb to his game (which he had to coach as well), Scotty gave no, well minimal, argument.

I have the privilege of staying home with our wonderful children, and many dads would consider that reason enough for me to "take care" of the household stuff. Not Scotty! He works during the day, and at 5:00, pulls in the driveway ready to begin his second shift. He doesn't even think of relaxing until all three children are sound asleep.

They LOVE to play with him. And, I LOVE to watch them play (except when the play takes place 5 minutes before bedtime...that happens often!)

So, from all of us, Scotty..."Happy Daddy's Day!" We love you THIIIIISSSS Much!

Aah Relaxation...Sort Of

As I stated in an earlier blog, Scotty gave me a nice gift certificate to Aqua the Day Spa for Mother's Day this year. The gift was doubly nice considering Heather got the same thing. And, while a day at the spa alone is wonderful, a day at the spa with a great friend is just about perfect.

I began my day with an early run before Bible study. A group of women in our church is doing a Bible study on Tuesday mornings this summer. Today was our first meeting, and I was beyond excited about it. There are few things that I enjoy more than women's Bible study.

Claire left the church with a friend, and I took the boys to another friend. Leaving Clinton, I breathed a sigh of relief and was off for some relaxation.

Heather (who is clearly NOT as spriritual as I am :) met me at Chili's because she spent the morning shopping out North. (Just in case anyone is wondering...I'm totally kidding about the spiritual part.) Our time together was full of good food and lots of talking. We generally talk 90 to nothing when we are together without kids. We spend a good bit of time together, but very little of it is without kids. So, we have LOTS to say when we get the chance.

Halfway through lunch, I get a call from my friend who has the boys. Before she says a word, I can hear Caleb SCREAMING. She took them swimming. Caleb was running down the diving board and slipped off. I'll spare all of the tiny details. Basically, he scraped up his foot as he slipped off, but his chest down to his tummy took the brunt of the fall. He's pretty scratched up. There was some bleeding going on which was the cause for all of the screaming. Caleb REALLY hates blood. A paper cut that produces the tiniest bit of blood will having him screaming as if he's lost a limb.

I received two more calls. The first was to say that he was going to be o.k. even though he had not stopped fussing yet. About ten minutes later, I got the call that he was up running and playing tennis in the pool again.

En route from Chili's to the Spa, I had a minor melt down. Caleb has had a rough couple of days with a few other accidents and a bad night at baseball practice. When I received the final call that he was going to be fine, emotion flooded over me. I'm not sure why that brief episode had me so flustered, but it did. And, the thought that kept rushing over me was that sometimes the emotional heaviness that comes with being a Mom is too much...much too much.

I guess only a Mom would worry about how her six year old is coping with consecutive catastrophes causing physical harm to his body, or if one bad night at baseball practice would damage his sense of confidence for life. I'm sure I'm not in the minority of Moms that would let my mind drift, even for a second, to what could have happened in the diving board incident. Deep breath in, deep breath out...Sometimes, it's all just too much!

And, at the same time, it's absolutely wonderful! I can't think of anything I would rather have consume my thoughts and emotions for the most part of every day than the 3 little people taking up residence there now. They are a blessing.

And, while my day at the spa might not have been the day of relaxation that I had originally planned, my toes are still BEAUTIFUL!

Thanks, Scotty, for three beautiful children AND my day of pampering.