Validation That I'm Doing Something Right as a Parent

Sure there have been some tender moments the girls have shared. And some have been captured on film (well...SD card). But nothing compares to the most tenderest moment of all that continues to bleed my tear ducts dry.

There's the oh-so tender moment when Parker helped Georgia with putting her shoes on.

That's not it...




Or there's the time when Parker and Georgia put on their matching bathing suits and strolled around the backyard on a beautiful Saturday afternoon ensconced with the future promise of perpetual kinship and love for each other.

But that's not it either...

These tender moments make both Laura and myself feel as if it is all worthwhile. All the incessant crying and screaming we had to endure at bedtime or at the diner table more than makes up for itself when we look at these precious photos.

I promised Laura I wouldn't incessantly scream and cry anymore.

Sure someday when they're older they'll be moments when they're in this same backyard pulling each other's hair and kicking each other in the shin because Parker stole away Georgia's boyfriend or because Parker takes 30 minutes in the bathroom every morning to get ready but that's a long time from now.

And when that does happen I hope to be at work.

But for me the most tenderest, most precious moment that makes me proud to be a parent came on a Tuesday evening on January 5th, 2010. That defining moment captured my imagination. It was a moment where everything I've held dear to me from childhood and throughout my eternal struggle with adulthood erupted like a Mt. St. Helens of emotion. Finally, my children have joined that exclusive club.

The moment came when I turned on the tv in our bedroom and set Parker up for the first time to play...

Ms. PACMAN!!

AND GEORGIA WATCHED TOO.

It was then I realized that my purpose in life was to breed children for the purpose of playing video games with me.

Mission Accomplished.

Oh the future we have together, Saturday afternoon trips to Golf-n-Stuff, hanging out at Electronic Boutique at the mall for 2 hours, a day trip to "Tilt" in the Thousand Oaks Mall (is that place still open?), or purchasing a PS3 and simply buying cool games to play until 2 o'clock in the morning.

Finally I see a future with my children that isn't all about them, it's about what I want as well. To sit at home on a rainy afternoon and play Tiger Woods golf on the Wii! until one of us contracts a mild case of "Wii elbow".

Parker, Georgia meet your new cousins Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, you'll be getting to know them better.

ahhhhhh...parenthood

P.S. the leopard-print blanket is not mine, it's Laura's. It matches her leopard-print boots and leopard-skin-tight spandex pants she wears on "80's Metal Night" at Nicholby's. She's been caught walking around the house singing "Don't Need Nothing But a Good Time" as well. Someone please stop her.