Flying Away

Gordon Atkinson is one of my favorite writers. He's better known on the internet as Real Live Preacher (or RLP for short), and has a blog that he keeps at www.reallivepreacher.com. I'm really stingy with bookmarking favorites on my computer, but his site is one that I've got bookmarked, and that I check just about every day.

RLP's a Baptist pastor from San Antonio, but personally I think he's a closet Lutheran. (It's okay, Gordon, we'll keep it our lil' secret.) He's very theologically sound, very articulate, and very much a "regular" person, on top of it all.

When I grow up, I want to be Gordon Atkinson.

Yesterday, he wrote a piece about his oldest daughter. It seems she's getting ready to leave the nest, and like most parents, even though he's happy and proud that she's growing into her own independent person, he still feels like a piece of his heart is being ripped out of his chest. It's a gorgeous piece of writing--whether you have kids or not, check it out here. I was a blubbering fool when I finished reading it for the first time yesterday, heartbroken at the fact that I only have 15 years left with Kiddo before he leaves the house.

I mean, just this morning, I was watching him get dressed...he had insisted earlier on picking out his own shirt, and now there he was pulling it over his head, making sure it was on the right way...putting on his own pants, socks, even his Superman underwear. I did have to tie his shoes for him, and I still have to get the zipper started when he zips up his coat, but other than that, it's his morning routine now. Dad's no longer the primary actor here, Dad's a cheerleader on the sidelines. Wasn't it just yesterday that he was this helpless little ball of crying and pooping cuteness?

Sheesh. If I'm this way now, just wait until Kiddo graduates from high school.

*Sigh*

Great, I'm getting all verklempt again. I swear, nobody warns you ahead of time that becoming a parent turns you into an emotional basketcase when it comes to your kids.

But I suppose, even if someone had warned me, there's no way I would have understood the full depth of what they were talking about until I experienced it myself.

SO...on that note, here's a little clip of Kiddo from yesterday. I had just picked him up from daycare, and he decided that he wanted to play restaurant. So there we were in the living room, making those staples of fine cuisine--toast and mac & cheese--for the restaurant's imaginary patrons...a bear and a rabbit.

(The video is a little dark...there really was more light in the room than what it seems from watching! Even if you can't see much though, Kiddo's directions to me are fun to listen to!)



LH