RAOKA – Family

I live for the time I spend with my family.  Coming home to a great big hug makes the 9 to 5 worthwhile.  I enjoy every single second of the time I’m home with my family.  Just last night, as soon as I got home from work, my daughter pulled me into the family room for some tackle hugs.  She grabbed my hand and pulled me to a good spot clear of furniture where she ran towards me, and tackled me in a knock down roll around hug.  Simple things like that can truly be the highlight of my day.

Today’s post is about family.  I’ve joined up with other bloggers in something called Random Acts of Kick Arse (RAOKA.)  The name is kind of silly, but I think that was kind of the point.  On the first Wednesday of each month, a group of us blog about a single topic.  It’s similar to my campfire series, but instead of combining in a single post, we post to our own blogs and link to each other.  Today’s topic is family.

We just celebrated our thirteenth wedding anniversary.    For nine of those years, we had a family of two.  It was just my wife and me, and we were happily plugging along.  We enjoyed the time we had together and enjoyed the freedom of being childless.  Our decision to have a child came after much discussion (and some voice of intuition.)  We planned and prepared as much as we could.

Then, after nine years in a family of two, our family grew by one, and we became a family of three.  I have four great days in my memory banks.  Days that were absolutely fantasticly wonderful days.  These are red letter days.  Days that I remember above all others.  All four of those days revolve around family, and I’d like to share them with you.

1)  The Family of Two

The first of my wonderful memory days is the day I entered into a family of two.  It was the day I got married.  I can remember it like it was yesterday.  Standing there, waiting for my fiancé to walk down the aisle to become my wife.  The day was a blur of activity, yet I remember one thing very clearly; seeing her for the first time in her wedding dress as she walked toward me.  She looked amazing and I felt love as though my heart would burst.  That was the beginning of our family of two.

2)  The Family of Three

The day my daughter was born.  Childbirth is scary, no doubt about it.  I can’t tell you how many movies I’ve seen where the wife dies in childbirth.  I guess it happened a lot before proper medical supervision.  I thought about the safety of my wife and my unborn daughter.  I was scared but my wife didn’t know it.  I hid that and told her everything would be fine, supporting her and encouraging her.  It wasn’t until much later that I told her of the fear I held on that glorious day.  She was surprised, so I suppose I hid it well.  The birth went great.  The doctor actually asked if I wanted to deliver the baby, but I decided to leave that to the professionals.  Instead I stood by my wife, encouraging her, and watching the amazing process of child birth.  Everything worked out great, and all of sudden I was a dad.

3) Daughter’s Daddy

The day I realized I wasn’t always “Eric” any more, instead I would forever be known as “daughter’s daddy.”  (With her name inserted in the place of “daughter.”  I’ve decided to keep her name off of the Internet.)  This day came unexpectedly.  I was in the front yard doing some yard work.  One of the neighbors was walking by, and she said to her kids, “that’s daughter’s daddy.”    It hadn’t hit me that I would no longer be known as Eric, but as daughter’s daddy.  It was a great feeling; losing one identity and gaining a new and improved one.  A new identity tied to my daughter.

That little story has an interesting twist.  A short time later after my daughter learned to talk she decided that daddy wasn’t the best name.  You see, my wife calls me by my first name, Eric.  She has pet names too, and usually refers to me as daddy when talking to my daughter, but mostly it’s Eric.  And Eric certainly gets my attention the best.  Well, my daughter decided that “Eric” was the best way to refer to me too.  After all, that’s what mommy calls me, and it always gets my attention.  She knows I’m her daddy, and every once in a while she’ll call me daddy, but most of the time it’s Eric.  I’m happy with this, and I really like it that she decided on her own the most special name to call me.  I think my parents were a bit surprised the first time they heard it, as most everyone is, but I think they’ve finally come around to accepting it.  You should see the look on my friends faces the first time they hear this tiny little girl call me by my first name.

4) Full Time with the Family

The fourth of my most memorable days is the day I was laid off.  I went into detail on this topic in an earlier post, so you can check that out for all the details.  To sum it up, for three months I was unemployed and got to spend every minute of the day at home with my family.  For three months, I got to thoroughly enjoy every single second of every single day.  I would have never taken three months off in the middle of my career, and I am very happy that it was forced upon me. I was the best time of my entire life.

There you have it.  My four fondest memories and they all revolve around family.  Now it’s your turn to join in the RAOKA movement.  Share your thoughts on family.  Do you have some great memories?   Would you share them with us in the comments section?

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What is Random Acts of Kick Arse (RAOKA)? With the idea that there are so many ways we can do small things to change the world for good, Sami, from Life, Laughs, and Lemmings took an idea she had and created this movement.  The movement:  A new theme to focus on each month, bringing a little more good to the world.  The movement started in October 2009, and is currently headed by Lori from Jane Be Nimble.

Each month we pick a new topic to share.  Interested in joining the movement?  Contact Lori for details.

Be sure to check out the other blogs in this month’s RAOKA by heading over to Jane Be Nimble.



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Tagged as: Bloggers are people too, Family, Happiness, RAOKA