When dad is better than mom...

Dear Saturday - September 6, 2014,

I missed writing my 400 words yesterday. It was just one of those days that I didn't have time, I wrote it in my head and probably have lost it. 

Backtracking in memory... It was Thursday night when I was saying goodnight to my son. We pray each night. It's for the most part the same prayer - for a peaceful night's sleep and no bad dreams. His eyes began to well up with tears. He said, "Mom, there's something I should have told you earlier." I thought, "oh no, what???" He said, 'friend name' brought their iPad on the school bus and he saw Michael Jackson's thriller video. Sigh. I thought, oh boy, it's going to be one of those nights. 

He's 9 years old and I have long given up on him sleeping in the dark. This summer I changed the watt in his bedside lamp down to 25. He didn't like it at first but it was still light, he fell asleep and I slept better not seeing light coming from his room. 

Anyway so, my first reaction was annoyance. 'Friend name' shouldn't have had his iPad on the bus. I told my son, we had prayed, he would be fine and it was time to go to bed. I was tired. He shook his head, "Unt uh, I don't want to close my eyes." I gave him a kiss and hug, told him I would be fine and he said, "Can you get dad?" So I went in the living room and gave my husband the heads up.

At first I heard him say, "Son you are 9 years old...." blah blah blah. That was pretty much what I expected from him. But then he must have seen how upset he was and he changed his tone. The patience I don't have kicked in and they talked for a while. The last thing my husband did was get his military dog tags for my son to sleep with around his neck. He said, "These will protect you."

Before those two talked, I fully expected that we would not have a peaceful night's sleep and I would be up several times saying another prayer with him that was last for another couple hours. I had a wonderful night's sleep and so did my son. When I asked him how he slept he said, "Fine?" like there had been no issue. 

Anyway, that is one of the ways I love my husband - when he does something that I can't do myself. He's a great father.

434words

Kenya