This Entry was written Sunday July 8th 2006 and was posted the Following Thursday.
The later half of last week was eye opening to say the least for me. For some reason my days shifted around on me. I think it’s because I’ve been working so many late night hours and pushing so hard to relax on the weekends… well, my body finally said “You’re a morning person, get used to it.” Sat and Sun I awoke at 6:30. It was nice and quiet in the house before everyone was up. Both mornings I made coffee, unloaded the dishes that had washed the night before then read the news on the back porch.
Saturday, I had really wanted to work around the house then do some things with the kids, basically a family day.
Grant woke up right after I got in from my morning walk (yes, I’ve started taking morning walks regularly). He and I went upstairs with some milk and watched his favorite Power Rangers show and just hung out. Ashton was up around 7:30 and the three of us made “Daddy’s Famous Cinnamon Toast” of which I ate two, Ashton three, and Grant tore one to pieces without actually eating it. We went upstairs for an hour and just hung out. We let mom sleep in until 8:30 then it was up and out into the yard. We have 3 palm trees in our backyard and they require an annual trimming. So that was my task while Corri and the kids pulled weeds. I got the trusty ladder out that my dad had given me when I bought my first house and up the trees I went. After a few hours I had them all cleaned out and the kids and Corri had done a great job with the flower beds and walk paths. They all went in to shower and clean up while I tied up all the palm tree prawns and moved them to the curb.
Standing in the back yard I could see a vast improvement in the main areas. We still have lots more to do, but the hard work has been done. It is really hard to find something as satisfying as seeing the hard work you put into your yard pay off. I smiled as the sweat dripped off my nose.
After I showered, the whole family loaded up in the car and went to the library. The kids and I had been at the park Friday evening and Ashton had begged to go to the library. Corri and I have a general rule with the kids: learn to read and we will buy you any book you want or take you to the library anytime you want. So here we all were around lunchtime walking in the front door. Ashton and Grant went to the kids books right away and I trucked along with another smile on my face. Corri went on over and applied for a library card… so I thought. Ashton and I went through several books when she finally asked “Dad, where is the young adult non-fiction”. Damn fine question I thought. We found it, and off she went while Grant and I read Disney’s Scary Stories. She came back a bit later with several books on different states. I looked through them and to my surprise she had picked all the different states that she has family living in. Pretty smart I thought.
Corri came back and got Ashton while Grant and I read some more. After a few minutes, Ashton came running up and presented her very own library card with her name on it. Her smile was bigger than mine, but not by much.
We selected 3 books for her and like the big girl she is, she went and checked them out by herself. I snapped a quick picture (that's her in the Orange and White striped shirt, sorry about the quality) of her talking to he librarian as she so. On the way home, we talked about what it means to have a library card and the fact that it’s good until she is 18 years old… to which we then talked about was only 12 years away!! Ack!
After we returned home, we all had something to eat then let it settle. Corri was feeling tired so she curled up in bed for an afternoon nap and the kids and I hit the pool.
The pool here at the Huff House is a central part of our summer. We spend a good deal of time in it on Saturdays and Sundays and usually I’ll grill hot dogs outside when we are done. This Saturday was no different, other than the fact that it really is the first time I’ve been in the pool with the kids this summer. We played and splashed. Grant worked on swimming without his floating ring and did a great job. I threw Ashton as high as I could many times until my arms hurt.
After a bit, I climbed out and sat in a chair on the back deck and just watched. Grant would throw a rock and Ashton would dive down and get it. He’d laugh when she shot to the surface with it in her hand and she would smile and let him throw it again.
“Now you’ve got it. This is what we work so hard for.” My inner voice was back and happy this time.
“Yes… this is it”
Unfortunately, the weather didn’t want to stay nice and the rain started to come. We packed it up then went inside to read and play on the computer. A little bit later, after the rain had died down, I was able to fire up the grill and cook up some dogs, thus keeping the summer tradition alive.
Towards the evening, we popped some popcorn and the whole family went upstairs to watch Sponge Bob Squarepants The Movie. Ashton and I curled up on one side of the couch while Grant and Corri hit the other. I was so happy and comfortable that I only saw the first 10 minutes before falling asleep. It was bliss.
Bedtime was easy for the kids and Corri went out to the hot tub with some wine and a book while I got a little work done in the office. I joined her after I finished for an hour which was really nice. Better days are really hard to come by.
Sunday morning found me sitting up in bed again at 6:30. Again, I felt great and jumped out of bed… quietly this time so as not to wake the sleeping monster named “Morning Corri” whom was next to me. Milk, Vitamins, News outside, shower, dishes and I was ready for the day. Ashton got up early and asked if I had taken my walk yet. Nope was the reply so off her and I went around the neighborhood. I took my tumbler of coffee, she her morning bottle of milk. We stopped at all her bus stops and took a sip and chatted about life in general.
We got back and sat on the back porch and talked. Just father and daughter having a good early morning talk while we watched the sun come up around 7 am. Corri and I had talked about me moving my office into the dining room and giving Ashton my office as her own room. This was the main topic of conversation and Ashton agreed it was time. So sometime before school starts, I’ll vacate this room I’m in and we’ll paint it up for Ashton to once again have her own space. Not sure how Grant will take to that, he loves sleeping in the same room as Ashton… we’ll work it out.
Grant got up a little late, but in a good mood and up we went to watch his morning shows with milk while Ashton played on her computer. I did some work on it for her which lead me to discover that I have to add a dvd player on it and replace the video card. Geez, my six year old already needs an upgrade on her computer… and it’s her second PC!
Around 10, the three of us moved out to the garage. Corri has been redoing some furniture and one side of the garage has been trashed for a few weeks thus making Corri park her car outside. I decided it was time to clean it up, so the kids and I went to work. They both tried as best they could to help me out and I must say it was funny to watch them both move things in and out of the garage. Corri awokenice and late on her own which she rarely gets to do. After a bit, all four of us where out there cleaning things up.
An hour later I stood on the street and looked into my clean garage with both cars pulled in. It’s always nice to see an accomplishment.
It’s Sunday around 2 pm as I sit here and write this. The kids are upstairs playing, waiting for me to finish so we can work on a Crystals lab that Ashton has and Corri is playing with Ashton’s new cat Maya (Don’t ask, and comments on that are NOT welcome thank you very much). Outside the window it’s raining which will put a damper on our plans to swim in a bit, but that’s ok… we have loads of fun things to do around our house… even if it’s just talking.
The past few weeks have been, to say the least, hectic here at the Huff Household. I’ve been up and down on side projects and working very hard to get my new ventures off the ground. In order to help out, Corri has been keeping herself and the kids out of the house as much as possible. At first, it was a huge help in that I could get a good deal of work done without being disturbed. But after a week, I started slipping and getting down. I thought this was because I was not accomplishing the amount of work that I had set out to do. But this week, I found the real reason…
Wednesday morning the alarm clock screamed out 7 AM. I stumbled across the room and hit the snooze, stepping on the dog as I went. The Snooze Bliss ended 15 minutes later and I was up. After a shower, smoke, vitamins, and milk, I hoped in the car and headed towards downtown to meet up with Hector Diaz (Nick’s dad) who has been my unofficial business mentor for over 10 years. He and I spent two and half hours at a McDonalds going over business plans and ideas. I left feeling invigorated about what I was setting out to do. I got home and Corri and the kids had already left for the day.
Walking into the quiet house hit me hard. I have gotten so used to having one or both of the kids meet me at the door and screaming “Daaaadddyyyyyy” that the silence was a hand I could feel squeeze around my heart. I went to my office and did a few things and the funk started to set in. There is nothing louder to a father than the sound of an empty house. I finished what I was working on, then closed down my office and went and sat in the living room.
“Dude, this is what you work so hard for. The kids, Corri, the family…. where are they?” my internal voice asked.
“They are gone” I answered simply
“Well, go get them idiot. You can’t push yourself hard to create a life when the reason is not always around you”
It was a simple conversation, one of those that we all have from time to time with ourselves. But they serve a great purpose. They reset us and refocus us on what is important. This one did its job.
I went to bed very early feeling better about what I was doing.
Thursday morning at 4:30 am I opened my eyes. I was wide awake and knew there was no going back to sleep. So I lay in bed and listened to the sounds of the house. Dash whimpered and gave out a muffled bark as his legs ran through his doggie dream; some water ran through a pipe; the AC turned on.
I rolled over a few times and let my body come out of sleep on its’ own. At 5:30 AM my eyes popped open all the way and I jumped out of bed. It was dark still, and with the curtains drawn in our room, it was almost a depressive dark. Corri and the kids had stayed at Rick’s house so I was able to toss open the drapes and open the windows. I smiled at the pre-dawn morning and decided that the whole house should be sunny. Moving from window to window downstairs I started to sing a little, then a lot. Luckily, at 5:30 in the morning, the neighbors aren’t out and about yet.
I started the coffee pot going and then hopped in the shower. Damn did I feel good!
At 6:45, after some milk and a bite to eat, I took my travel mug full of coffee outside and walked around the neighborhood. It was a brisk walk of about 20 minutes and when I arrived back home a little after 7, my blood was pumping and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. What the hell was going on with me????
The day flew by for me. I visited a client and dropped of some software, got a ton of emails out, finished up some loose end type projects that had been sitting around, and couldn’t wait for Corri and the kids to get home.
Late in the afternoon, Corri dropped the kids off while she ran a quick errand. I was overjoyed to see them. We played upstairs and just laughed. Corri got home a little later and we had dinner. I read extra stories and played the night night songs on my guitar just a little longer than usual. It was nice to play for them even after they had gone to sleep.
Corri and I sat outside and talked for an hour and then we went to the bedroom to finish watching the Back to the Future trilogy we had started two months ago.
The end of the movie found Corri sound asleep next to me in bed. I powered everything off and then made a check of the house. Doors – Locked; Windows – Closed; AC – Set; Garage Door – Closed. All was well.
Brushing my teeth I looked up to find that the smile I had at 5:30 this morning was still there.
My head hit the pillow and I turned a few times to listen to the sounds of the house. Corri was breathing quietly next to me, the kid monitor was broadcasting Grant and Ashton turning in their dream filled sleep. Dash whimpered.
I sighed; this is what my house should sound like.