Precious Moments...

Precious Moments... I had several of those last night with the boys. You never know exactly what you will get with kids from one day to the next. Sometimes you are on top of the world and sometimes it's a struggle, but it's always a blessing. I am enjoying the adventure that comes with raising three boys. On the way home from work, I got a call from Joe, my 10 year old. He wanted to go with his friend to visit a karate class in Arab. The boys don't ask to do things away from me too often. We usually stick together like glue during the time that they are with me, which is about half of the year, since their mother and I are divorced. Because I only have them half the time, I call them each and every day they are not with me. I am fortunate that many of the days they are not "not with me", they really are with me because we are at practice together or school events together. I say all of that to point out why I am very reluctant to let my boys go. I'm not selfish about it, and I don't have a problem with it occasionally, as they get older. I told Joe to find out what time that he would be back and to ask to his Mom if she would let them stay with me Sunday night to make up for it. Sunday night is supposed to be her night with them. I thought and prayed about it until he called me back. I decided that if they could stay with me Sunday night that I would let him go. When Joe called me back, I told him that he could go, but that he needed to know that I missed him and that I was only saying yes because his mom agreed to let him stay with me Sunday night. He was glad.

When I got home, things were a bit crazy with too much going on at once. It was a "dramatic" day at work, and stress at home was not really on my agenda. Actually the boys were pretty well behaved. It was just a rush. I had to make something quick for supper (it was a frozen pizza night!) I was trying to get the boys to start mowing. Well the bolts that hold the gas tank in place were missing. Don't ask me how that happened on a relatively new mower! So, I was trying to fix that, keep the pizza from burning, and telling the boys to pick up the junk they just dropped in the living room floor as soon as they got home. Joe, being the mechanically-inclined child that he is, helped me find bolts to fit. Matt, age 7, took the initiative and found a flashlight to shine on the bolt. No, I didn't need the light on a sunny afternoon, but my heart melted at Matt's eagerness to find a way to help. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't need the light. That flashlight battery was not wasted because Matt felt like he was helping. I couldn't find my socket wrenches, so David and Joe looked for those while I tried to make due without them. Finally I got the mower fixed, but it flooded. Then I got the pizza out just before it burned, and we all ate together. We had Klondike bars for dessert. That was probably our biggest "sin" of the night. Anyway, after we ate, Joe tried to call his friend who for some reason never showed up. I thought that Joe might be disappointed, and he was, but we had so much fun the rest of the night that he forgot his disappointment. David volunteered to prune the low-hanging branches on the trees and bushes in our yard. I was ok with that, but I told him, "As long as you pick up the branches and put them in the burn pile." The boys like to prune more than they like to pick up the branches. I can't say that I blame them. I feel fortunate that they just want to help at all without asking. I guess David decided that this was more fun than what I told him earlier in the evening. I told him that we were going to start a "four-man rotation" for toilet cleaning duty. David's response (he is age 12, going on teenager) was, and I quote, "That's sick." My response to that was, "David, what's more sick, taking turns making sure the toilet is clean or letting it go without anyone ever cleaning it?" Then I proceeded to give him my speech about how my first employer in high school was the UAH Preschool Learning Center. One of my main tasks was cleaning a bunch of toilets for preschoolers with bad aim. Then my speech segued into why he needed to buckle down in school so that he could do something "less sick" for a job in the future. He took it well. Sometimes I just can't help myself during those "teachable moments".

I really made the day of the three little firebugs when I proclaimed it was high time that we set fire to the massive burn pile in the back yard. Yes, we live in the country. We had a huge stack of limbs that had blown down during the past year or so, including many from the remnants of Hurricane Katrina. Our brown Christmas tree was also in there somewhere. We also tossed some boxes that had been junking up my storage room for way too long. So, we pulled out the hose, grabbed some matches, and set a fire. Fires are fascinating. The boys were saying things like, "look how it makes a funnel like a tornado." Joe, always looking for a job to do, volunteered to rake out the remnants of an ant bed that I destroyed with Clorox bleach last week. Matt and I played catch. After the fire died down, we went in for the evening. The boys had begged to watch the movie, "Pirates of the Caribbean" with me. I denied the request, saying that we would be up past 11 if we tried to do that. We did watch portions of the Braves-Phillies game. Once again, I forgot to watch "The Office". I have friends who keep telling me how much I would like that show, but Thursdays are just too busy and I'm not that much into the TV scene, except for weather, sports, and news. Probably the biggest fun was when we called the Chicago Cubs hotline. The Cubs have a telephone number that you can dial to request a pocket schedule by voice mail. Well, the boys made it their goal to make me laugh as I recorded my name and address. They really got me laughing when I called in a request for a schedule for my Mom. My mom is a lifelong Cubs fan and she told me that she would like to have a Cubs schedule mailed to her. Well, when in my deep baritone voice, I spoke her name, it was all I could do to not laugh. Then I got a little too silly. I told the boys to listen to my next call. In honor of David, our family's resident "Mr. Cub" and erstwhile Sammy Sosa fan, I called to request a schedule. When it asked for my name, I said, "Sammy Sosa", spelled S-O-S-A; gave my address as 708 Steroid Drive, san Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. Then in my best Latin accent I said, sorry, we do not have zip codes in the Dominican. I also did one for everyone's favorite alleged steroid user, Barry Bonds. Yes, I know I was being silly, stupid, and childish, but we laughed so hard together! I just hope the Cubs don't track me down through caller ID. Who knows, maybe we made someone in Chicago have a laugh or two!

We watched a few cartoons, including "Rupert and the Frog Song", by Paul McCartney. Then I showed them this really cool clip from a McCartney DVD called "Chaos and Creation at Abbey Road". Paul shows how he composes music and lays down the track by himself. First he recorded a basic drum track. Then he proceeded to layer onto that piano, bass guitar, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, and vocals. We were all fascinated. I sent them to the bathroom to take their baths. Matthew was so sweet. After his bath he came back and cuddled up next to me on the couch. When I started to get up he held on to me like he didn't want me to go. The boys are going through some bad circumstances at their Mom's place, so that might explain why he was so clingy. It meant a lot to me, though, for him to need my comfort. I let David and Joe work on their fantasy baseball teams a little bit while I sat on the couch with Matt. I let Joe send in our Vinemont weather report to James Spann at ABC 33/40. He did it all by himself and all I did was check it for accuracy. We stayed up late enough to watch the news and weather at 10 p.m. on 33/40. We gave out high fives when James called out that the high in Vinemont in northern Cullman County was 80. As usual, we prayed before bed. We skipped the usual bedtime story, though, and crashed. It's a wonderful life! Thank you, Lord, for David, Joseph, and Matthew! As long as this entry is, it doesn't even capture so many other things that were said and done that were blessings to us all last night. These days are so precious to me and they will never come back again. My goal and highest calling in life is to make the most of this time and pour everything I have to offer into my sons' lives! That's all for now...