The other day while Chris was in Bay City Cailyn and I had the enviable task of taking Mom over to Libbie's Place, or as Cailyn likes to put it, "Take MoeMoe to school." Chris had the car, so we had taken the carseat out and put it in the truck. I announced our agenda for the morning and Cailyn immediately went to the front door, ready to depart. But she then realized the car was not there, so she turned with a puzzled expression on her face. "Where the car is, DadDad?" Great question. I told her that her car seat was now in the truck, so we would be taking that means of transportation. The puzzlement changed to an entirely different expression. First uncomprhension. Then disbelief. Then a look of almost utter joy. "DadDad," she exclaimed, "You put my car seat in the truck? Oh, thank you. I'm so proud." And so much for this GrandDad's swollen head.
One of her favorite pasttimes when we get in the car is asking for a piece of gum. She knows we have some stashed near the driver as a staying-awake aid during long trips. So when we got in the truck her first statement was, "I need some gum." "Of course you do," I responded, "But the gum is in Nani's car and she is in Bay City." Now that stumped her. For about a three count. She knows the obvious answer to a quandary such as the one we now faced. "We can go to WalMart and buy some gum for the truck, DadDad." Now why didn't I think of that?
We got Mom settled in at "school," and headed for the next stop on our No-Nani excursion. Now, don't think we went to WalMart just because this beautiful little vision of loveliness looked at me with those gorgeous brown eyes and flashed one of those "I love you, DadDad, and I know you'd do anything for me" smiles. I am impervious to such female wiles. No. We went to WalMart because, uh, I was sure we needed something there. It took a few blocks, but I remembered that we were close to needing a refill on our fruit stash. Yes, that's it. Grapes and a pineapple. And if we happen to pass the gum aisle we could pick up a pack. In fact by the time we parked and found a buggy for Cailyn's doll to ride in, I almost convinced myself that the fruit was the actual reason for the trip.
The quick trip to drop Mom off at Libbies Place lasted just a bit longer than I expected. We had to stop and look at the books. That's educational, right? We only chose the one to get, and it was one of those designed to be read by early readers. And it was, after all, about princesses. We also took the opportunity to check out the greeting card aisle. That's something I do on occasion myself, so it kind of made me proud that she had the same interests as me. Of course she wanted to see every single one that had a picture of, well, a princess. Wouldn't have been my first choice of reading material, but we all make sacrifices in the name of education, right?
We finally made it back out to the truck, but Cailyn was not quite ready to get in her carseat. I was in no particular hurry, so I decided to see how long it would take for her to decide on her own that it was time to go home. I stood by the open door and played Words with Friends on my smart phone while she climbed back and forth over the seat, battling pirates and driving "Daddy's fire truck." It was almost like I was hanging out with the guys. At least until she realized there was a mirror on one of the sun visors. Then she wanted to know if I had any lipstick. I don't know exactly how long we were in the parking lot, maybe 45 minutes. But when she finally began to feel the rising heat, she quietly crawled into her carseat and announced that it was time to go home.
Lunch for Cailyn that day was eating one bite of chicken strip, licking the jelly and some of the peanut butter off a pb&j sandwich, followed by a few bites of a honey bun and a handful of peanuts. All the basic food groups except candy. What a day. Proved I could handle it by myself, though. Somewhat unconventional, maybe, but we did it.
Hebrews 3:12-13 says, "See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness."
Father, give me more chances to be unconventional in how I approach the day. 45 minutes in a WalMart parking lot is a small price to pay for the chance to be in the presence of one of your sweet children. Amen.
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