The Things We Do

This week I was surprised to find out that my friend Carol is taking her daughter to Disneyland. You have to know Carol to truly appreciate how BIG this is. Like Halley’s Comet – this is something that most human beings won’t likely to see in their lifetime.

You see, Carol usually goes to exotic locales like Provence or Tuscany. Disneyland or Vegas? – well, not so much.

But that’s the thing about having a young child - most of us find ourselves doing things we never imagined.

Such as:

• Tom, who dressed up like big bird and strapped on a pair of roller skates for Tyler’s 4th birthday party.


• Cindy who spent the entire night in a Toy’s R Us parking lot, going elbow to elbow with hundreds of other desperate parents, determined to get her daughter a Wii for Christmas. (She was successful).


• Heather, who shares her life with her step-daughter and a life size stuffed pony named Butterscotch.


• Chris, who builds P-kitty a tent every morning before he heads off to work.


• My brother David, a manly man from West Texas, who knows all the words to “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Baby Beluga”.


• All of the fathers who let their daughters paint their toenails (you know who I’m talking about).


• Not to mention the fact that I’ve been to Hell and back making sure Santa was able to deliver Ninja Turtle Action figures on Christmas morning.
  

Before you have a child, you imagine a perfect world. A place with no sugar or junk food, where everything comes from an organic garden. A world that isn’t commercial, and families manage to make meaningful Christmas and Birthday gifts out of wonderful little things found in their backyard. A place where boys don’t play with toy guns or soldiers. A world without TV, one where we are never too tired to read and sing happy songs to our children.

The truth is - reality is far more interesting than the dream.