talking about things

when we stayed at our hotel in Anaheim, one of jane’s favorite things to do was to “talk about things” with me after we turned out the lights, and before we all fell asleep. we would get into our beds and turn out the lights and jane would say,

“hey dad- want to talk about things?”

and of course I would say, “sure! what should we talk about?”

and she would list of a set of topics for our conversation.

every time, the first topic would be, “let’s think of our favorite parts of our day.”

since we have been back from vacation, “talking about things” is a new nightly routine for us. Deanna gets jane ready and gets her tucked in; she reads her a story and has a prayer time; they turn out the lights and then they call me in to talk about things before jane falls asleep. and every time we talk, we begin with, “so- what was your favorite part of the day?” sometimes it gets late, and sometimes we run out of things to talk about, and I tell jane that it’s time to sleep.

she hates to end talking time. a few nights ago she wanted talking time to go longer and she hugged me with tears streaming down her face yelling, “but I want to keep talking!” she loves it so much that an extra-long-talk-time has become a big incentive for jane to try new foods.

to be honest, I love talking time. I love any time I get with my kid. I love listening to her tell me her feelings and experiences. I just enjoy hearing her voice and hearing her talk about anything.

its my current-favorite-part of being a dad.

I used to write these blogs about how being a dad gave me perspective on how God feels about being a Heavenly Father to me; and I can’t help but see the similarities between my love for spending time talking with and listening to jane, and God’s joy in spending time talking to me and hearing me talk to Him. wouldn't that be awesome if I refused to end my talking time with Him!

the other night we went to dinner at the food court in the mall, before jane and Deanna went to jane’s awana class. we finished early, so we decided to check out the disney store- it’s the closest thing we have to Disneyland in town! we were walking and I was carrying jane and she said, “hey dad! I have an idea- let’s talk about things while we’re walking to the disney store.”

“ok!” I said.

“what was your favorite part off today?” I asked.

jane said, “my favore part of today was…right now.”

and she wrapped her arms around my neck.

“right now is my favorite part of today too.” I said.

someday talking with dad isn't going to be cool anymore, but I'm taking it while I can.

being a dad is fun.

God is love.

-rev-rob