Father's Day...

In our house we really work hard at defying gender roles. I am the flippant, overlooker of all holidays that are sentimental (birthdays, valentines day, sweetest day, mother's day, and lastly, father's day). It's not that they are not important to me, it's just that I am of the school that "things" don't make the day any MORE important. By "things" I am referring to cakes, cards, flowers, chocolates, presents, and so on. My husband, on the other hand, gets downright grumpy when I forget or opt out of those things, so we are always at odds when it comes to choosing how we will celebrate something.

So, this year he pleasantly surprised me when he announced he just wanted a quiet (laugh!!) dinner with myself and the 5 kiddos, and then just wanted to spend time being their daddy. So, we had a great little evening wandering around the waterfront film festival, having a dinner of shrimp po'boys and crab cakes, a trip to the ice cream shop, and then we finished off the night sitting around the firepit with marshmallows toasting, and little firecrackers. The kids could not have been more pleased, and daddy was smiling from ear to ear. A perfect evening!

He is one of those daddy's who is perfect in his imperfection, loving, sensitive, and I cannot imagine life without him. I have held his hand in lieu of medication during labor, cried on his shoulder more times than I can count, listened to him softly read Peter Pan off of his palm pilot to our 1 pound twins as they fought for life in their NICU isolettes (and subsequently snicker over all the times Tink says the word "ass"), watched him weep as he held our daughter Mya when she passed away, and have seen the lines appear on his often furrowed brow as he quietly stresses and thinks about the well-being of his wife and children.

We have our ups, and we have our downs, and we have been through more in our short marriage than many people endure in years, and I am so happy to say that even though our story is not yet written, and what is to come is still and always an unknown, I am more in love with him now than the day we said "I do".

Happy Father's Day Lamont!!