Another Confession

Okay I have another confession to make.  I actually wake up each and every morning ecstatic with anticipation of what the day will bring.  Before I get out of bed I think about all the cool things that happened the day before, and I think about all the cool things that might happen this coming day.  I imagine what new things I am going to learn, and what new things I will be able to teach.  My state of exhaustion is nothing compared with my state of excitement, and I would not change my life for anything in the world.  Contrary to what my last blog entry may have led you to believe, I do not have sleep apnea, I am not depressed, and I am not a drug addict.  Hi.  My name is Sneaky Sweets, and I have...a 6 month old son and a 2 year old daughter.

My buddy Mitch Manson inadvertently introduced me to the pure joy of parenthood long before I had a clue as to what it was about or was even close to understanding.  About 5 years ago we were standing in his kitchen talking about our local basketball team or something like that.  I was probably making some important point about how we needed to draft a power forward when I realized with some annoyance that Mitch was completely ignoring me.  He was looking down at his 2 year old daughter Savannah laying on the floor.  She was doing absolutely nothing as far as I could tell but laying there staring up at us.  Mitch said quietly to himself:  "Oh my God you are so cute."  I looked over at him and he had this look on his face that I had never seen from him before.  I did not understand it, but I filed it away in my memory banks as one of those 'moments' that you never forget. 

I am not going to gush on about how awesome my kids are, but I will give you one of my own examples of what a kid can do to you.  A couple of days ago my 2 year old daughter Autumn and I were driving to the store and listening to the Grateful Dead on Pandora radio.  The song ‘Crazy Fingers’ comes on and as per usual Autumn asks me who is singing this particular song.  (She does the same thing with the Beatles…not only does she make me explain to her what each song is about, but she also wants to know which Beatle is singing each song.  Ringo is her favorite Beatle, and the Beatles are her favorite band.  We have some goldfish named Paul, George and Ringo, and the porcelain turtle in the tank is named John.)  So anyways, I tell her that for this song it is Jerry Garcia singing.  The guy who’s picture we have hanging in our front hall.

“Is he a nice guy Dada?”

“Yes, very nice.”

She listens and thinks for awhile and then says:  “I really like this guy Dada.  I think that when we see him we should tell him that we love him.  That would make him feel so happy.”

Through my glistening eyes due to my mixture of extreme happiness and sadness, I tell her that that is exactly what we will do the next time we see Jerry, and that yes that will make him very happy.

Yes Mitch, I get it now.