Tim, Stella, and I had a wonderful day together; we traveled down to IKEA to purchase some items for The Barn (a converted barn on our church campus where Tim's youth group meets each week). We enjoyed the day together as a family and had lots of funny and memorable moments...including this word-for-word interchange Tim and I had outside a Dunkin' Donuts this afternoon (we were sarcastically joking with each other...keep that in mind as you read):
Tim: "They don't have any more pumpkin muffins...do you want me to get you something else?"
Me: "Uggghhh...no...just get Stella a donut."
Tim: "Are you sure you don't want anything else? A pumpkin donut, pumpkin coffee...?"
Me (in a frustrated tone): "No, just get her a donut."
Tim (sarcastically): "Do you want me to jump on the hood of the car?"
Me (smirking/chuckling): "Just get her a friggin' donut."
Tim walks inside the DD's and I hear a little voice from the backseat:
Stella: "Mom, dad said he was going to jump on your hood."
Me: "Yes, Stella, that wasn't very nice...he should apologize for that when he comes out."
Stella: "Mom, that wasn't very nice to say 'Get me a friggin' donut.'"
Me: "You're right, Stella, I should apologize for that, too."
Cue apology between Tim/me when he came out. Hopefully our modeling of an apology overshadowed our previous conversation...
Even with the wonderful memories, our night ended on a slightly different note when we made one final stop to fill up our gas tank this evening. Stella was, thankfully, asleep in her carseat. Tim came out from paying inside and told me to get my phone to call the police because there was a dad with two very young daughters inside and the dad was clearly intoxicated. Thank the LORD, a police cruiser had just pulled around the back of the store so I flagged him down just as the man was walking out of the store, carrying a 40oz can of beer in his hand, with his two daughters in tow - both girls were younger than Stella's age and they had little bags of potato chips in their little hands at 8pm. I don't know what would have happened if that man had gotten behind the wheel of his car tonight and driven away, especially in the state Tim described. I'm sad for the little girls who likely saw their daddy get arrested tonight, but I'm thankful for the timing of the police officer being in the parking lot just as this man was about to drive off drunk with his precious daughters.
I'm so thankful for a husband I trust implicitly. I have full confidence in his parenting ability and I know he makes wise decisions, especially when it comes to the safety and well-being of his family. I hope tonight was a huge wake up call for that other dad. Life should be so much kinder for the sake of those sweet girls...if only they knew what it's like to have a dad like Tim, who would never purposely put them in harm's way.
