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March 29, 2009
A Weekend with the Girls
When I first heard about the women's retreat at our church, the lunatic who lives in the back of my head started whispering: I'll bet Shannon wants to go to that. Maybe you should offer to watch the girls. Normally, I try to indulge the little crazy imp knowing that if I didn't, he'd fill my head with a long-forgotten commercial jingle or annoying 80s song. Okay, that last sentence proves that maybe I've been reading a bit too much James Lileks, but it describes what I felt at the time.
Seriously, though, when I told Shan that I thought she should go, it was clear the thought I had was not from any sort of internal lunatic but from God because her thought was that she wanted to go, but I was the one who had to mention it. So it's clear God wanted her to be there, but she's probably going to write about that.
Until this weekend, I had never been alone with the girls for more than a few hours when she was at work. Understandably, the thought of it was nerve-wracking. As it turns out, my fears were unfounded. Although all three of us were sick, the weekend was not as bad as I feared. Hard, but not horrible. The girls and I spent the weekend watching movies, playing games, coloring and eating dad-friendly foods like pizza and chips. Maybe I didn't get as much sleep or free time as I would have in a normal weekend, but I did have a lot of fun with my girls. However...
As the picture above shows, it wasn't all fun. That was taken Saturday night at around midnight. Natalie woke up in pain from coughing and Charlotte was sneezing and needed comfort so we all went downstairs. After medicine had been administered and a few minutes of "Beauty and the Beast" had been watched, the girls quickly fell asleep. I took the picture for two reasons: one, I thought it would be funny. Two, I wanted to remember the moment because it made me thankful for both my wife and my parents.
My wife, because she's normally the one who comforts the girls when they're sick and stays up so I can sleep to be rested for work. And my parents, because sitting with my girls made me realize just how many times they probably did the same for my siblings and I when we were sick. As I sat there wishing I could reach the television remote, I also realized that parenthood, for all its difficulties, really is rewarding and humbling.
Yes, these two little people were counting on me to meet their needs for physical and emotional comfort and that was draining. But at the same time, it really hit me anew that these two little girls trusted that I could and would provide that comfort. That realization caused me then and causes me always to seek the strength that I draw upon - it made me thankful for my own heavenly Father who has enough strength not only to take my burdens, but to give me strength to handle the burdens my daughters place upon me.
For that reason, I'm glad Shannon had the chance to go away for the weekend. The retreat gave both of us a glimpse into the nature of God, and for that I'm thankful.
grabbing and pushing. And tears...oh, the tears.
Posted by Peter at March 29, 2009 08:34 PM
Comments
Lovely, lovely, and quite an emotional read for a rather homesick college student . . .
And I loved the photos, of course.
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