Long Road

It is Friday night!  School is over, the week is done, the lights warm the living room while outside the darkness stalks.  The girls are playing with various toys, the floor covered in plastic bobbles and bits of pink and purple doll accessories.  While a clean floor is a luxury around here, watching my children make a mess of it brings a distinct kind of satisfaction.

The nights are getting longer as winter strengthens its grip around the days that once belonged to autumn.  Frost and slight flurries are the precursor to the inevitable blankets of snow that will fill our world soon enough.

As Thanksgiving approaches, I take time to recognize the people and things in my life I am most grateful for.  My parents for always giving me support and advice as I continue to make mistakes on my road of life.  I am thankful for my family members who send love from all over the country, and give comfort to me in knowing that they are always there for me and my kids.  I am thankful for having a job where I feel rewarded and also have the ability to pay the bills and make a difference in my community.

As the weekend draws on, I have time to sit and watch my children, and think a bit about the future and the long road we all have yet to travel.  While nothing is a given in life, I look forward to watching and participating in the life of my family.  I see other people and their children out and about, and wonder if they are as in-awe of the developing lives in front of them as I am with my kiddos.  It is tiring, at times, to repeat instructions and routines and find different ways to communicate important things to your children.  I gain more and more appreciation for my own parents every day that I am lucky enough to be a daddy.  I hope that I am around long enough to see a good portion of my children's stories in life.

But the road is long, and we must enjoy the mile we are in, and live for the day.  We are here, together, right now.  I miss my family across the country a lot of the time, but understand that we are still connected by the time we have lived together and the experiences we all share.  Now I carry the advice and laughter and ideas and interactions of my past into our future.  So this is what I give thanks for as we hit another mile marker of life and set-out for new territory and adventure.