We just spent the evening at his house having yummy potato bacon soup and eating a yummy chocolate cake to celebrate the 2nd birthday of his foster son. Don't think that his wife isn't amazing too, but that's for another blog, another day....see my brain is always thinking faster than I can actually function!
So back to the "cute dad" issue. We enjoyed dinner, cleaned up a little, chatted with a neighbor and then I realized it was getting time to get my kids and head back home--but where were all the kids, and where was my brother?
Since the two year old was freshly put to bed, after the thrill and excitement of opening his presents and blowing out the candles on his cute "CARS" cake, all the kids had headed to the basement to create a restaurant commonly known by the cousins as the "Cousin Cafe". My cute brother had them all enlisted in the effort to clean up the basement and restore order so Mom didn't have to deal with it in the morning....and all the kids were happily helping him. Somehow once the toys were cleaned up a spontaneous round of square dancing began and my cute brother (maybe we should call him DOTY--short for Dad Of The Year) began singing a square dance song from his 5th grade square dancing program.
Suddenly DOTY, my teenage daughter, youngest daughter, niece, nephew and a neighborhood friend were dosado-ing their partners, promenading, and grabbing hands to circle the ring. Up and back they'd go and collapse into giggles on the floor and the hop up to grab a new partner and do it all again. Not sure how many times the scenario repeated itself, but I got to be the couch sitter this time...just watching and smiling and enjoying the joy of the moment. And as far as I could tell it was pure joy--from the DOTY to the youngest child in the room.
I think Mom was smiling down and thinking she was a success as a mother because Mom loved any spontaneous, happy, giggling moment even if the hour was late and it meant we were giggling and falling off our chairs around the dinner table instead of eating and heading off to bed so she could enjoy a moment of peace and quiet in our house full of chaos (lots of kids create that with no effort at all!). She taught all of us that the little moments of sitting and reading a book, or telling a story, or sailing sticks down a stream were the important, sweet moments of life.....and no matter how crazy or busy, she made time for those kinds of moments for each of us during our childhood.
Thanks DOTY for being a reminder of the legacy of joy in the spontaneous moments of life--it's been almost 9 years since we lost Mom and the grandkids performed the first of the family productions to help dispel the gloom of a funeral on the day of a granddaughter's birthday. Mom knew how to smile through the most difficult times and how to create joy with the most simple things--and you obviously learned that lesson well!
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