paterfamilias

We've been on a little island of sorts - surrounded by all manner of boxes, bags and suitcases, and entirely disconnected from the world without any web access. And it's OK. Well, it's sort of OK. Dave and Luke are fine and I'm the one having the sporadic freakouts about who knows what.

When it comes to any manner relating to the rental, the home selling, or the move, Dave has been entirely in charge. He's the one on the phone with the exterminator, the furniture rental guy, the plant rental guy, our realtor, the landscapers, the rental company, the moving company, the housecleaners, our financial advisor, and probably lots of other people I haven't even known about. My job is basically to surf Craigslist idly for outdoor furniture bargains. And yet he's the one who's calm, cool, and collected. And cheerily optimistic too. I happened to ask Suzi the other day if Dave had always been like that. "Pretty much," was the response.

Maybe that's why Luke is in a little bit of a Daddy mode right now. Up until now, he's more or less never turned down an opportunity to see me (to be fair, I had the added advantage of offering milk for the first two years). But lately, whenever catastrophe strikes or knees get bumped or chocolate milk gets spilled all over the patio, it's, "I want DADDY!!!!!!!!!" He must have clued in to the fact that Dave's the guy who never seems to get ruffled, always finds a way to get things done, and who can see only sunshine on the darkest day.

Luke chose this weekend to stop taking an afternoon nap and it made for some cranky afternoons, but whereas it sends me up a tree, Dave doesn't seem to mind in the least. He and Luke took off for the beach yesterday afternoon while I ran some errands. Then I strolled down the hill to the beach to meet them, and there they were, silhouetted in the late afternoon sun, jumping up and down with total joy as soon as they saw me.