September 20 – “Picture Day”

It was our responsibility to get Cailyn to school yesterday.  Not that unusual a task, I know.  But this time there was a heightened sense of accountability.  Just a little more than usual pressure to make sure the morning went well and the drive to school was without incident.  Why?  Picture Day. 

When she arrived her hair had already been meticulously curled and swirled or whatever it is they do to it.  It looked very nice.  She assured her Daddy that she had already brushed her teeth.  All she had to do was change clothes and look beautiful and the school picture was sure to be a masterpiece.  Piece of cake, right?  Of course.  Except for one tiny detail.  It was pouring down rain at the time, with no real prospects of it stopping any time soon.  Not to mention the other insignificant little details of her hour or so with us before time to leave.  You know, simple things like eating breakfast.  Of course her food of choice here is always that breakfast of champions … frozen waffles with lots of syrup.  We used to pull her long hair back into a pony tail to keep it from finding its way into the syrup.  We have been informed of late, however, that she is a big girl now, and we just have to trust her to keep her hair out of her syrup.  Sigh.  To her credit, though, she is pretty careful.  No problems this time.  The actual getting dressed part has had its challenges as well on the days that the choice of school uniform has not met with her approval.  This day was special, though.  On picture day the kids are allowed to dress to the hilt.  No uniform required.  Of course in the eyes of this old geezer, she absolutely rocks whatever clothes she wears.  She had selected a really pretty dress made out of some blue jeans, I think.  Even had some long pink things that covered up her legs.  Kind of like panty hose with no feet in them.  Oh, and some boots, well, “riding boots” as I was corrected.  They came up to her knees.  About the only mishap was that she couldn’t find any socks.  Not that it was a problem.  I found out later that she doesn’t like to wear socks anyway.  And there were socks in her bag, so it wasn’t a Daddy packaging error.  More of a Cailyn freedom of choice declaration. 

We got her to school on time.  She didn’t even want to carry her own umbrella, choosing instead to walk with me under the big black one.  She looked great when she gave me that final hug and kiss before easing her way next to the identical twins and slipping into the crowd.  Can’t wait to see those pictures.

Psalms 72:5-6 says, “He will endure as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations.   He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth.”

Father, thank you for the rain and for images of pony tails and baseball bats, Barbies and basketballs, hugs and kisses.  Amen.