Friday, December 14, 2012

The best view of the best shooting stars, ever

Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays! Oh forget that...Merry Christmas! It is my favorite time of the year. It is for a lot of people, but for me, Christmas highlights why I love to be a "family" man. Many will say that Christmas is just for children. Sorry, I'm not going for that. Because Christmas is about a person, not all of the stuff and fluff, everyone can and should enjoy the blessedness of the season. Anyway, with all of our traditions and their corresponding memories, I find it so easy to love being a husband and father. I so enjoy time spent together and giving of gifts, etc. etc.

Well, last night I was reminded how totally awesome it is to be a daddy and it really had nothing to do with Christmas. After getting home from coaching my son's basketball team (great stuff all by itself), and seeing on Twitter that many friends were out watching the meteor shower, we headed out the back door. Now, I have always loved where we live because we have always had a great sky view, but last night was perfect. The sky was cloudless and because we live in the boondocks, we have little to no light pollution. Before long, there were four bodies side by side by side, me and my three kids, laying flat on our deck with nothing but wide open sky and the Geminids straight up. All of us were sharing one huge quilt, and there we lay for over a half hour. We "Ooohed" and "Aaahed", counted, compared, and shivered. The only thing that hindered our view of the night sky was the thick clouds of our own breath. We scooched as tightly together as we could to keep warm and laughed at how cold and crazy we were.

In spite of the 27 degrees, I forgot how cold I was for a while as I laid there listening to the wonder and excitement of three people that bring the same to me. I was reminded of the great privilege I have had to be a part of God's great plan for three people who, I am sure, will change the world; three individuals with the awareness of a great God, His awesome creative power, and His ability and desire to create something wonderful in them. I was reminded how great it is to spend time together without a TV, DVD, Wii, or anything else; just each other, a blanket, and a God who loves us. It could be said that last night was exceptionally special for one of my kids who said, "Don't you know? It is my lifelong dream to see a shooting star?" Well, there was her dream come true, but from my Perspective, my dreams came true 19, 17, and 12 years ago, and I am reminded that they keep coming true as I watch my children, like shooting stars, burn brightly across the sky of my life, unfortunately far too quickly.

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