This makes me cry.

"You is kind. You is smart. You is important."

~ Kathryn Stockett, The Help

I called my dad in California the other day and simply said, "Dad? I need you. I need your influence and your help and your everything today. And I really wish you lived here. Today, I really, really do."

And then I got off of the phone because I had a meeting and didn't want to start crying. He said a few words back to me and let me go.


I cried anyway.

No. There was no catastrophe. Not at all. It was just one of those days. I just wished that he could be sitting at the kitchen table with Isaiah like he did with me way back when. See, my dad and my mom? They are just hard-wired for making kids feel good about themselves. Particularly when it comes to school. Mom is just north of Atlanta, so we get her influence abundantly and often. But when combined with Papa? It's the one-two punch.


I think I'm a good mother. I do. I love my kids and love my husband and work hard to let them know each day how cherished they are. But mothering isn't always a cake walk and I am coming to deeply respect all that my parents did with the four of us. All that they poured into making us hard workers and bright, inquisitive human beings. It isn't always easy. Or intuitive. I'm seeing that first hand.


On that day, I just wished I could have my Dad's influence. The man in him, the wisdom in him . . . the deep of his voice and that special thing God equipped him with for dealing with children. No, not just the influence that trickles over from me since I was raised by him . . . . but his daily influence on my child.

You know? It's funny. There's something in my father's presence that makes kids want to work harder and sit up a little straighter. Firm but loving. Encouraging but expectant. I've not fully captured it in words, but this is probably one of the main reasons I send my children to California each summer to be with him. I'm fortunate to be married to a man who also values this. I want them to have a big dose of that presence while it is here. Because it meant everything to me.

And it still does.

"I need you, Dad."

"I'm here." That's all Dad said. And then he got off of the phone.

My friend Angella L. has a special knack for capturing ordinary yet special family moments in simple photographs. Ever since I met her, I've tried to do more of that. This picture was taken at my kitchen table this evening. Isaiah and Papa practicing spelling words and math problems over Skype. Skype. Dad infusing that special ingredient of his into my manchild and my Isaiah sitting a little taller and working a little harder because of it. Exactly what I was wishing for. And it was Dad's idea.


This? This image will make me cry for the rest of my life. One, because I know that parents don't live forever and two, because parents aren't always as "into" the grandparenting thing as this. I'm so thankful! I realize that this is a blessing. I so, so do. All of it. Having parents and grandparents and having them willing and able and selfless enough to participate in your life in such tangible ways. Mom volunteers once a week at the boys' school and does the same at the school my brother's children attend. And Dad? He does things like this.

Yes. We are blessed.

Look at this picture. This explains who I am. This is my mother. This is my father. This is my family. This is "I'm here."

This is who I am.

I am kind. I am smart. I am important.

Yeah.

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