Donuts and Dads

A week or two ago, Carli came to me and asked me if I was going to be in town on "The first Friday in April". As it turns out, my travel plans did in fact have in me Phoenix that day (today). Apparently the kindergarten at her school was doing a thing before school called Donuts and Dads. All the Kindergarten kids bring their dads and we eat donuts in the cafeteria. She has been so excited about it and has not stopped talking about it ever since she brought it up. She even put an invitation on my bed one day so when I got home I would see it. (see below)

Every Friday morning at 11:00 EST (7:00 in Arizona) I have a meeting with the other executives at work. I asked everyone if we could push the meeting back because of my date with my daughter. We did. So I'm on my way to the school this morning with Carli and my sister Tiffany sends me a text and tells me how bad I suck at blogging and that Jen is kicking my but lately with updates. I agreed that I needed to get better at it. The experience that followed during the next 30 minutes was so awesome, that I figured I just had to blog about it. Especially while it was fresh in my mind.

First of all, as I pulled in the parking lot, 80% of the vehicles in the lot were big trucks. There were tons of men walking hand in hand with their kids through the parking lot up to the school. I kind of had to laugh as I saw all these trucks in the parking lot. One thing I've noticed in Ohio as I look around is that people don't drive trucks as much as we do out here. Kind of funny.

As we were walking into the school it was so fun for me to see the excitement in Carli to have her Dad at her arm parading him through the school. As Dads, we don't get the opportunity to be involved as much in the parenting process at this level. Let's face it, the Moms get all the glory when it comes to this kind of thing. As I was walking down the hallway with all the other little kids holding their Dads hand, I couldn't help but think how sad it would have been for Carli to have gone to this event without her Dad. Tears of happiness started welling in my eyes as I was so happy to be able to do this with her. I started thinking of how sad it is that our kids are all growing up so fast and these innocent times are quickly fading. I don't know why but I got really emotional during this event this morning. I'm even getting emotional now as I type this.

Anyway, it was really cute to have a place all set at the table with the paper "tie" that she had made and colored for me. This tie gives new meaning to the term "clip-on tie". It was fastened with a paper clip. We sat and ate our donuts and drank our juice box while the kids sang to us and Carli gave me big hugs.

Even though Carli can be tough at times, I have to say I am very proud to be her Dad and I love her (as well as my other kids) more than I ever though it possible to love another human being. I really would like to spend more simple time with each of my kids so they can feel the love I have for them. Time is slipping away and I don't want to miss it.