Tag: quality time

When You Wish Upon a Star

On By Chris SoutherIn Dad Blogs, Family, Marriage2 Comments

ImageIt’s Spring and that means one thing around my house – baseball! With two boys playing ball, one in “Select” league, it also means that I’m lucky if I’m home two nights during the work week. It also means that CareerMom, who works out of the house, is stuck doing the bulk of the schlepping back and forth. She called me yesterday and–you know how this works–asked if I planned on going to my son’s game last night. I could tell by the sound of her voice that there was an undercurrent of hope that I would not.

What happened was that we had an early game last night, which meant getting there really early (coach wants them there 45 mins early), which meant my wife had to either pick my daughter from DayCare early and be late to the game, OR drop off my son at his game,  and then drive ALLLL the way back to get my daughter.

I made it easy on my wife and skipped the game and picked up my daughter and went home. Throughout the evening, my wife kept me updated via text messages, so I got all the benefits of being there, with little of the nervousness.

But a great thing came out of that–I got to spend quality time with Baby Girl. She’s four now and she’s a talkative spirit. After she fell asleep on the couch and then woke up again around 7:45, we spent 45 wonderful minutes on the back porch, under a blanket, watching the stars and airplanes, and making wishes. With three kids (did I mention my friend has five?) that kind of quality time doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, you have to squeeze every moment out of it.

When we found out we were having our third child, one of my fears was this very issue of spending quality time with that many different children, plus keeping a marriage healthy, plus keeping my career going. I wish I could say that I was wrong and it’s easy to do, but it’s not. Then again, maybe it depends on your definitions of success. All I know is that last night was a success. The first thing she said to me this morning was, “Daddy, do you remember making wishes on the wishing star last night?”

I sure do Baby Girl. I sure do.

 

Count your blessings, name them one by one…

On By Chris SoutherIn Dad Blogs, Family, Fatherhood, Marriage2 Comments

Yesterday was one of those picture-perfect weather days here in Atlanta. The weather was in the cool 60s with very little hint of humidity. We spent the better part of the afternoon outdoors to maximize the “happy time” we get from the boys being entertained, which few things does better than being outside.

What gets me though, is how few other people do the same. Our neighborhood is about a mile long and there are a couple hundred houses here. We also have a neighborhood playground and nine out of ten times we’re the only family out walking or at the playground. We’ve been trying to hook up with other families that have kids the same age as ours and it’s darn-near impossible to do when you never see anyone else.

owlAfter the kids went to bed, I fired up the outdoor speakers and turned on some new agey/classical music and then CareerMom and I sat on the back porch in the glider and enjoyed a glass of Shiraz while watching the bats scarf up what few bugs are out this time of year. Just before it got dark, I got a shot of this fella (I do believe it’s a Spotted Owl)  perched on a tree branch over the creek waiting on some tasty night critter to come out. He’s bigger than he looks. He was about the size of a large hawk. Pretty cool huh?

Anyway, it was good to sit back and enjoy the weather. Sometimes in the hullabaloo that is life, it’s easy to forget what’s right outside your door. It’s also easy to lose sight of what’s right inside your door too.

I’ve got the best of both worlds. I’m pretty blessed.