September 19 – “That just makes me …”

Chris went on a cleaning tear yesterday so the house will look good while we are gone.  She even cleaned out and vacuumed the car.  Sometimes it gets hard to tell the difference between when her cleaning frenzies are the results of her working off frustrations or just being incredibly motivated.  This time it wasn’t so hard.  Oh, don’t get me wrong.  She did a superb job of cleaning, but that spark, that drive, was just not there like it is when she gets emotional about something.  The motivating factor this time was that age-old desire that men just cannot completely understand – that compelling force that drives a woman to leave her house clean, even though she is not going to be there.  It sure looks good around here right now.

I took Cailyn to school the other day.  Not that unusual an event, I know.  But on occasion a grandfather has to spew anecdotes about the grandkids.  It’s in the job description.  No, wait, it’s deeper than that.  It’s in the DNA.  There was nothing all that different about this particular drop-off.  We parked in roughly the same place we always do.  We walked the same route to the front door that we always take.  She hugged me in her Cailyn-esque way and made her way through the first set of doors.  Once there she pulled open the second door, but didn’t enter right away.  Instead she backed herself up against it to prop it open for the tiny little girl who had fallen in step behind her.  Now that’s a sweet move.  About that time she saw me still gazing at her through the window.  Her eyes lit up and smile spread across her face.  Both hands went up to her mouth and she blew me one of those huge kisses with both arms flying out to her side.  And she didn’t stop there.  Then she wrapped herself up in a big hug and released the hug-ness in my direction with another sweep of her arms outward.  I could feel the warmth all over.  Are you crying yet?  Then one of the teachers who had stopped briefly to observe the grandiose gestures looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “Well, that just makes me … smile.”  As she disappeared into the office, and Cailyn turned and headed for the gym inside, I must say I had to agree.  Made me smile too. 

Psalms 111:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.  To him belongs eternal praise.”

Father, here’s some more praise coming your way.  Amen.