A Life Lesson From a Six Year Old

Today my girls and I were headed to church. We all love the church that we attend. On the way there Kinsey asked me if I liked a certain individual. My response was that " I don't much care for that person". Kinsey was a little taken aback. She said with a certain tone of disbelief "Daddy why don't you like that person?" I explained that it's not that I didn't like them, I just didn't care for them because I didn't think they were honorable. The question that I fully anticipated came... "What does honorable mean?" she asked. I told her that was when somebody knew the right thing to do and chose to not do it. She thought about that for a minute and said "Daddy, you're not honorable". I was completely floored and immediately saddened by her assessment of me. I had to know why she thought I wasn't an honorable man. Her answer was simple, pure and innocent. She told me that God wants us to care for everybody and if I chose to not care for somebody, I was choosing to do something other than that which I knew to be right. Her insight was profound and hit me in the heart. She was right and I told her so. Today I learned a valuable life lesson from my six year old daughter. How humble I feel knowing that we are all God's children worthy of being cared for regardless of perceived short comings or trangressions and I had to be reminded of this by a child. I respect her fresh and wonderful vision of humanity. I love her even more tonight knowing the depth of her beautiful heart. What a beautiful gift my daughter gave me today.

Daddy's In Charge

Tonight as my girls were eating dinner, after two bites Riley declared she was all done eating. This is something she has started doing since Halloween. I attribute this new procedure to her desire to get to the after meal treat as quickly as possible. It is now our rule that unless you eat your meal there is no treat. She hasn't quite got it burned into her memory yet.

So tonight when she made her proclamation that she was done, I told her that she needed to eat her food. She brazenly said "No". Quickly I reminded her that she doesn't say no to me when I'm giving her instruction. Of course, Kinsey had to chime in with her thoughts, which went as follows:

"Riley you know Daddy's in charge of everything. He's even in charge of Mommy. He's like the mayor of our house". Supressing my overwhelming urge to break out in boisterous laughter, I asked Kinsey where she had heard that Daddy was in charge of Mommy. It's my nature to seek out the source of mis-information. Kinsey told me she had read it in a magazine at the hospital when she was born. The magazine article said that "Mommy's were just a little bit lower than Daddy's". My guess is that she's been watching old episodes of All in the Family on Nick at Night.

You just never know what's coming next. Isn't it wonderful?

Is it illegal to cut Grass?

Many of my friends from up North ask me, what's it like living in the South? To answer that I thought I'd post a video of a typical Saturday on the Westside of Jacksonville.




Never a dull moment in the Sunshine State. Y'all come back now.

God's Secret

On the way home from school one day last week, my daughter Kinsey matter of factly informed me that "God made himself". I thought about it for a moment then told her that as far as I knew, God had no beginning. Her response was to just continue looking out the car window.

Several hours later, Kinsey came up to me and asked how could it be that God had no beginning? "That's the million dollar question. Nobody knows the answer to that. Some people think they know but they don't" I said. I went on to tell her that we as humans have a very difficult time understanding that because most everything we experience and see has a beginning and an end. Kinsey thought about it for a minute and then stated that there is somebody who knows the answer and that somebody is God. Then she said "I wished God had told me the answer when I was born, but I guess he wanted to keep it a secret".

Scientists

Last night I was giving Kinsey and Riley a bath. Bath time is approached very business like until hair is washed and bodys are bathed. After that, it's time for fun and games. We have a shower head that can be removed from it's holder and held in your hand. This has made the chore of washing two little girls hair much easier. When I'm not actually holding the shower, I usually give it to Kinsey to be in charge of. She likes to make little "waterfalls" with it.

Last night when Kinsey was making another one of her waterfalls she proclaimed, "Daddy I'm a scientist who knows about waterfalls". She has told me before that she knows a lot about waterfalls but has never framed it in the realm of being a scientist. That got my attention. I said "You're a scientist are you?" She replied "I sure am and Riley is one too because she knows about bugs". I looked at Riley and she nodded her head confirming that it was true. Then Kinsey continued "I bet you never knew your two little girls are scientists". I had to admit, that was news to me.

Just when you think you may be able to guess what they're pondering, they vocalize their thoughts and you realize; the only way to really know what they are thinking is to take the time to listen. I asked Kinsey what she thought a scientist was . She told me it was somebody who tried to learn about stuff. I'd say that's a fair assessment.

Signing off for now, it's time to pick my scientists up from their labs.

Cheeseburger In Paradise

Several weeks ago my daughters and I loaded up in the car on our way to the library. It was a beautiful summerish autumn day. The warm sun, crystal clear blue sky and boating activity on the river put me in a Jimmy Buffet type mood. I slipped into the CD player the Meet Me in Margaritaville album. When it got to The Volcano song, old Jimmy had found himself two new fans. The girls said "play it again Daddy". We heard that song three times in a row on our way to the library. Fortunately it's a fairly short trip. Since then we have enjoyed that song many, many times on the way to many different places. After hearing The Volcano song over and over and over again, I decided to give disc one of the album a try. Cheeseburger in Paradise became an instant hit with my two little girls.

This morning just as we were pulling into Riley's school, she said to me "Daddy, play Cheeseburger and French Fries in Par-dise". I told her it was too late, that we had already arrived at school and needed to go inside. Then came the tears. "I want to hear Cheeseburger and French Fries in Par-dise" she said. Needless to say, we sat in the parking lot and listened to the song. Her world was good again.

Jimmy, if you're reading this, just know you can still make the young girls cry. Add two more devoted Parotheads to the count.

Weather Report

A few days ago our fine city awoke to significant fog rolling in off the St. Johns River. I noticed that my daughter Riley was unusually quiet on our way to school. Normally she is singing or chattering on about something. This day she seemed either tired or contemplative. As we were getting out of the car and walking toward school, she said to me, "Daddy, the clouds are falling to the ground". I love listening to my children. What a fantastic way to start the day.