Day 2,793
Growth:
Taking a moment to pause, zoom out, and see how to best tackle a challenge is something Becky did awesomely today! Gavin had to referee a soccer match in Holmen and then needed a ride immediately afterwards to track practice. He would be running late for track so Dominic would already be at track and unable to drive him.
Becky saw the perfect line for this one. We dropped Gavin off at his match, drove to a nearby hiking trail, got an hour long hike in through the woods, picked Gavin up, and then dropped him off at practice.
I would have gotten frustrated and not necessarily have seen such an elegant solution. It was a wonderful reminder for me to pause rather than taking immediate action, zoom out, and then make the right call. Talk about a perfect thought to have in my mind before a wildly crazy week.
Appreciation:
This has been quite the day! Throughout the day I was provided the opportunity to be the dad I want to be, the dad I feel I should be. It was a lot of work, it took a handful of deep breaths, it took time to remember to pause and think like Becky helped me with in the Growth section above, it took reminders of lessons from my parents, and it took a bit of improvising. All in all, I felt like I lived closer to the other side of the gap than normal. Progress made, some stuff to work on, and positive memories created thanks to Dominic’s dog park Eagle Scout project and Gavin’s Hope Project for his humanities class.
Presence:
LOL – Not gonna lie, I started to write about how I felt like I was present for most of the day, even got a few sentences in, and then laughed as a memory popped back into my head from this morning. While I felt like I was locked in much of the day there was a moment that really proved how un-present I was and that moment is one that I am thankful for today.
This morning I made coffee. I ground the beans, put the filter in, added the grounds, poured in the water and turned the coffee maker on. I felt like something was off, like the filter wasn’t quite the right size. I was too busy thinking ahead to the day and just kept moving. When Becky came into the kitchen she looked at the coffee maker, then looked at the filter basket drying on the counter, back at the coffee maker, back to the filter basket, and then at me.
“Missing something?”
Cue the facepalm! I had been in such a state of un-presence that I had put the filter in without the basket, hence the reason it seemed like the filter didn’t quite fit right. Oops!
What a great reminder first thing in the morning to stay focused and to be present! That helped set the path in a much better direction for the rest of the day.
Thanks!!!