All By Myself. ...

The anthem of every broken hearted single man played through my head today head today as the girls left me in the dark and quiet apartment myself to attend a bridal shower for Gina's cousin. It's not often that I find myself alone on a weekend, so I brushed the rainy clouds aside and relished in the moment. Then, once my Slurpee was done, I got to work cleaning the house. Found the kitchen table that has been missing for weeks. Vacuumed up enough animal hair to warm the entire Inuit population through the winter. Framed and matted the new baptism pictures of the girls (part of the inspiration for cleaning off the table was that I gouged through two pieces of cardboard under the mat board and through our table. It's ok, it runs with the grain lines so I don't think Gina will even notice. ... doh!). Swept and mopped the floors, even cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom. But what does it matter? The moment the girls walked through the door it looked like a hurricane had been through the place again. Oh well, life of a parent I suppose. It's worth it though. They have so much fun making messes. And I got them back, so who cares if they were destroying my hard work. And can I just say (and I'm pretty sure this applies to all daughters of any age) the way to win your dad over is simply lay your head against his chest. I don't know if the girls were tired today or if they just missed me that much, but once they got home and we were playing on the kitchen floor while Gina cooked dinner, they kept crawling over to me and laying their heads against me. They would quickly pop back up and scamper off, but they'd return soon enough to repeat the task. That gets me every time. I would gladly lie down in traffic for such a gesture. ... thank god they don't ask me to do that though, because I would have a tough time removing the tire marks from my shirts.