There have only ever been THREE constant men in my life.
Boyfriends have come and gone, even BEST friends have gone, but there have been three males constant, for better or worse, throughout each and all of my 31 years.
The first is my Daddy. Now he has his flaws for sure, in fact I could probably write you a pretty long list if I wanted to, but at the end of the day...he's a good man. He never cheated on my Momma. He never left us. We always had more than we needed, and he tells me he loves me every time I drive away. He has been provider and protector my whole life.
There is my oldest brother. He's the smarty pants. He's never been one to sit around and watch TV. He's sort of a renaissance man. As long as I can remember he's been up on the latest gadgets, playing guitars, creating art, fixing cars, building things, reading things, traveling places. He's just one of those guys that knows a little bit about everything. I've used advice from him over and over. He took me to my first Mavs game, bought me my first guitar and set of Lord of the Rings, gave me my first tour of the Smithsonian.
So what do you do when two of the three strongest men you know, get hit? What do you do when your Dad, who is supposed to lift heavy things, and check the oil in your car, goes into the hospital with Pancreatitis, breaks his fibula, and has to all of a sudden get around in a wheel chair? What do you do when your Dad, who usually opens all the doors, takes thirty minutes to walk inside a restaurant?
What do you do when your oldest brother, who is second to Dad, gets diagnosed with metastatic Prostate Cancer? What do you do when three of your nieces under the age of 5, including a newborn from Thanksgiving, have a sick Daddy?
I don't know what you're supposed to do, but I'll tell you what I'M doing. I'm praying every minute I remember to. I'm living life one day at a time, as it was meant to be lived. I'm flying up to Baltimore when I don't have to be at my retarded job. I'm driving to Winnsboro when the skies are clear. If my brother needs a nap then let's make sure the house is quiet. If my Dad needs me to drive him around his 50 acres just to get out of the house, then hand me the keys.
At first, I cried a lot. I asked "Why?" a lot. I couldn't even get a sentence out to my roomate sometimes without bursting into tears. But now? Now reality has settled in. I finally talked to my brother on the phone and he was changing a diaper. I went to see him and we bought a jungle gym. I talked to my Dad on the phone and he was reading the paper. I went to see him and he watched every football game known to man in the living room this weekend. I refuse to treat anyone like they have one foot in the grave unless they are standing by a tombstone.
For a long time now, I've tried to live my life fuller than the year before. Throwing caution and normalcy to the wind here and there, chancing my bank account and career at times...but if there has ever been a lesson to learn about life being too short and God having solid control...it's now. We are NOT promised tomorrow. No one is. The men in my life are not the "supermen" I have always seen them as. We all have time that will eventually be up. Our lives are but a mist. Here for a moment and then gone. All we have to decide is what to do with the time given to us.
Now...are you ready for some pictures of three of my four CUTEST NIECES ON THE PLANET???
Putting out "Reindeer Food" on Christmas Eve.
Sometimes, if there is traffic, and you're not the one behind the wheel...take a nap!
She wears ponies, she plays with ponies, she dreams about ponies...
My brother jokes that it's good that you didn't hear the audio here. And he's right, Tay was screaming her head off. But I still love this picture. I love the way he looks at his girls. And they adore him.
Merry Christmas, from the Princesses of Maryland!!!!
The only picture we got together on this trip.
...I have braces,
...he was super sleepy,
...whatever.
You should know I didn't shower much that week. So this was make up from the DAY BEFORE. Isn't she the cutest? I actually conquered my fear of holding newborns on this trip. Usually I'm just looking at the mom like, "I'M SORRY I BROKE YOUR BABY HOW DO I FIX IT?"...but Tay was cute and fell asleep on me quite a bit. She's like a personal space heater.
We made pancakes...in our princess outfits of course...
(them, not me)
...more princesses....
This is honestly my most favorite set of pictures from the whole trip. And I took it with my phone. If ONLY I'd had my camera ready. You just never know when the time will be perfect with the lighting.
...we decorated Gingerbread houses...
...we made snowballs with a snowball maker, bless her heart we have to work on her aim...
and I probably shouldn't have let her eat that...but now she thinks I'm cool so...
She just LOVES to sit with Daddy. Such cuties.
