As I was taking an extra few moments, for the 2,000 somethingth day in a row, to clean up after an absent-minded little human being that I signed up to care for, I was mildly amused that my daughter had used a graphic novel as a place marker.
Oops, I mean:
This is a comic comic book bookmark. Haha! get it?
This is the joy of being a dad. What I mean is, occasionally there will be the joy of being a father: you know, monumental life milestones of children. My elder is only 6, so I haven't seen too many of those. But, that's nothing you can live for. That stuff almost never happens, even if it does.
You have to take joy in the stupid little moments, and be present with your kids mentally as they work their way toward some kind of understanding of this crazy world we live in. If you don't grab hold of the joy available, parenting will be a chore. What do I mean? I mean this book. She left it out, again. The Lord alone knows how many times I have told her to put her books away when she's not reading them. It's past bed time, and I didn't have the energy today to sweep through the whole house before brushing and make them pick up everything (that's the thing they don't tell you, it's more work to make them do it than to do it yourself. Sometimes you let them slide because YOU are the tired one). This book slipped by. Now I have to pick it up. Ugh. And look, they got the chairs all dirty again. That's 15 more minutes of labor for me, probably, and we're running low on rubbing alcohol so I'll have to remember to get that at the store next time... How irritating, right? No. It's a hilarious word-play!
Also, it's a moment when I reflect on how far she has come to where she is now, and how she is using creative solutions to minimize the amount of work she has to do to achieve what she wants... as I pick up all the crap she left lying around, again... argh. See what I mean? You have to take hold of the joy.
The joy and the tedium are blended up and dumped all over your life, and you have to spend all day cleaning it up anyway so you may as well enjoy some of it. It's a comic comic book book mark. :D