Happy Things

My husband got THE job.  The "big boy pants" job as I like to call it!  Post-graduation, programming job - the reason for all those years of hard work, sacrificing time with his family, me feeling like a single parent, the kids missing his face, his presence - this is what it was all for.  It means financial stability, a normal life, and space time and peace of mind to BREATHE.  I can't begin to say how proud i am of him.

Went to dinner this weekend at Osaka to celebrate, Bella was convinced by daddy the hibachi chef was a "fire dragon in disguise" - look her face = priceless.  Great food, plum wine, and movies and alone time with hubby afterwards - he was SO HAPPY.  We had a bonfire even and just talked and talked and had some more wine.  It was happy talk mostly, though we did touch on some issues that needed to be aired, but found common ground on those issues quite easily.  I haven't seen him smile that much in forever.  I love that man so much I feel that ache sometimes - like WOW.   He called me this morning at work and say "Hey there beautiful".  That gets me every. single. time. 

Kaia and Anjolie had a wonderful Saturday visitation with their dad Thanh- he's making memories with them, something it makes me feel good to know.  They went to a bat mitzvah for one of his kung fu students and though Kaia was furious that she had to wear a dress, they had SO much fun.  There was a DJ and a photo booth and gifts like a personalized stocking hat with their names in graffiti and crazy 80's style glasses.  But what really mattered is that their dad got out on the dance floor with them and was goofy with his girls, and took silly pictures with them, and made them his dates for the evening - and was proud to show them off.  All I want for my girls is to know that everyone in their lives loves them and cherishes them, and if he's doing his part to make them feel that way, it just makes it so much more successful.

Sunday was lazy day - Christopher snuck Bella out of the room at about 8 AM and let me sleep till 11 AM.  Yes that's right - I, a working mother of 4 children under the age of 13 got to sleep in like a teenager.  Then I had coffee and watched the end of a movie with Chris and Bella while my dead husband tried to convince me to lay her down for a nap and then "tuck him in" for a nap too -- I called him a dirty old man and kissed him.   He did take a nap, and I'll leave it at that...

Kaia and Anjolie came home about noon - we danced in the living room to the music from the bat mitzvah - they gave out CDs too.  I made lunch and brought some up to wake up sleepyhead Chris.  He declared it a Sunday to just goof around and that we were all going to shuck our responsibilities and go swimming at the community center instead. 

So we picked up the girls' two best friends and went and played in the water - the center has a new huge waterslide that you get to pick your song from a jukebox thing at the top of the slide and then it plays it as you go down with a light show inside the slide.  Then we ate pizza from the cafe there, and then went to the indoor playland - a tower maze of tunnels and slides.  For the first time, Bella wasn't scared to climb in there, and she led me by the hand through it over and over again, telling me we were "camping".  The best part though, was watching the absolute joy on the girls' faces as Chris kicked off his shoes and played tag with them for hours, until he was so drenched in sweat I'm pretty sure they could smell him sneaking up on them ha ha.  Pretty soon every kid in the place joined in and though he did tag some of them, he always seemed to be IT and complained good-naturedly asking "Is this fair?".  That's what made my girls love him to begin with - years ago when we met.  He won them over by showing them his kid side - that he would get down on their level and show them they mattered by his willingness to act goofy and made a fool out of himself as long as it put a smile on their faces. 

Too bad Eddie wasn't there this weekend - that was the only thing missing.  It was his visitation weekend at his mom's house.  This was a perfect weekend for the most part, that brought all of us I think a little closer - I wish he'd been there too.  But hopefully this is a start to us getting back to times like this - where we need to be again, and there will be many more where we are ALL there. 

Anyway, after the community center we went home and did ABSOLUTELY nothing.  Well, the kids did the dishes and got the dogs walked, but it was a great lazy day.  Then just about the time everyone was starting to get tired and cranky we just called it a day and all climbed into bed.  I feel great today - even though I woke up at 3 AM after a nightmare that combined Freddy Krueger with the Harry Potter series and couldn't back to sleep for more than 5 minutes at a time after that.  But that I think was probably the massive amounts of junk food I ate yesterday combined with falling asleep to the Walking Dead show. 

Things are turning around...as I knew it would.