August 10 – “A Night with DadDad”

For nigh unto three weeks after The Storm those brave Protectors who stayed behind worked tirelessly day after day, night after night, trudging from the simplest of houses to the grandest of castles to mercantile establishments, yea even to the piles of rubble that now dotted the landscape of Great Island.  Their task was a simple one.  Seek out survivors and rescue them or discover those who had not been so lucky, and deliver them to the appropriate venue.  It was not a happy task, but oh, so necessary.  Message after message arrived from the youngest prince imploring his mother, and the entire clan to remain at safe harbor for "at least one more day."  In fact the emergency governing body who had remained on Great Island through The Storm issued a decree banning reentry for any who were not directly involved with the rescue or cleanup effort.  It was difficult.  For all of us had questions.  What about those in our care?  Dear friends?  Beloved neighbors?  When would we be allowed back in?    And what of our lands, our castle?  Was it habitable?  Was it even standing?  Word from a friend on the Enforcer team indicated that it was indeed standing, but a nearby tree had split asunder and crashed against the walls.  When the young prince was finally able to reach the site, he affirmed the Enforcer's report and added one of his own.  "What, dear Mother, of your precious belongings, would you like for me to save?  Sadly, it cannot be much," he explained.  And then, no doubt filled with further agony, he added, "and it must be those things that were located just above your eye level, for … everything was … everything is …"   Well, it was time for me to earn my keep today.  Josh and Christi went out and good ol' DadDad kept the boys at the hotel.  All by himself.  Without Nani.  Well, without Nani in person.  Believe me, she got about a hundred texts.  Started harmless enough.  They left us in the lobby eating some Chick-fil-a stuff.  That came to an end when the boys realized Mommy had handed me a bag of cookies.  So w each had a cookie or two, then adjourned to their room.  It didn't take long for Zak to figure out that DadDad thought jumping from bed to bed was pretty cool if you could do enough to get style points.  Course that meant Caleb had some ideas, too.  He particularly enjoyed landing in the huge pile of pillows.  I did get a picture or two of Zak.  When he realized what I was doing he said, "You better not show that picture to my Mommy.  Then she'll know I was jumping."  OK.  That was my first clue that they might have received other communications from their parents.  Oh, well.  Too late.  The rest of the night was kind of a blur.  It went something like this: Juice break.  Caleb answered the hotel phone, "Hello.  Hello."  It didn't ring.  More jumping.  "Let's go swimming, DadDad."  "Wait, let's see what's on the TV."  Little League World Series play has begin.  Texas East is up by 9 over Colorado.  Caleb has the built-in video game remote.  Channel changes when he pushes a button.  Great fun.  Zak jealous.  He just pushes buttons at the TV.  DadDad turns it off with the remote.  "Let's take a walk."  Strap Caleb in stroller.  Outside.  Back inside.  Back outside.  Up the elevator to the top - 6th floor.  Look out the windows.  Down to the first.  "Again, DadDad."  Back to the 5th floor.  Down to the first.  Back to the 6th.  Walk around on the 6th.  Back to the bottom. Walk around the bottom.  Watch the elevator go up and down.  Walk has now lasted ten minutes.  Into DadDad's room.  There's the movie.  Stuart Little 3.  Watch for at least five minutes.  Back to their room.  Caleb starts fussing.  Zak starts jumping.  Jumping entertains Caleb and he stops crying.  "Go Zak."  Astroboy takes on Ironman in a competition of superstrength.  Astroboy loses miserably.  Guess who was Astroboy.  Caleb opens and closes all the drawers.  Caleb finds the remote and walks around pointing and shooting at everything.  Suddenly everything gets very quiet.  Boys playing with cars.  Mommy texts to see if all is OK.  Of course.  She would call now.  Not long after Caleb brings me the three clean towels.  One at a time.  So I build a tower.  He admires my work for a second or two, then takes them back to the shelf.  One at a time.  Caleb returns with the unopened roll of toilet paper.  The outer paper cover falls off, so he throws that in the trash can.  Zak sees what's happening so he unrolls the paper across the length of the floor.  A few times.  Then he starts decorating the room for a superhero party.  Toilet paper everywhere.  Caleb breaks through one of his streamers.  DadDad senses an impending crisis, so he begins to step in.  Zak says, "It's all right DadDad."  And starts again.  Happens twice.  Zak decides that it's time for a toilet paper fight.  We throw toilet paper at each other for awhile.  Caleb watches in amusement.  Then Caleb realizes that there is a mess on the floor so he picks up all the paper.  All of it.  Every scrap.  And shoves it into the trash can.  Then he returns to opening and closing drawers.  Until he closes his fingers into one.  The crying has begun.  And it's dark outside, so Mommy and Daddy are bound to be coming soon.  We turn the lights out and Zak explores the room in the dark while Caleb and I watch in amazement.  Finally he announces, "It's OK.  I can see everything."  Caleb decides he needs a snack.  Light on.  Movie back on for picnic.  Picnic ends all crawl into same chair to watch movie.  Mommy and Daddy finally get home.  Zak runs into the wall and bumps his head.  Not on my watch.  Whew!   Ephesians 5:19-20 says, "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."   Father, fill my heart with your music.  I keep hearing other tunes.  Amen.