This is my dear husband, Trent. (The one on the bottom.) He is pretty awesome. He's a hard worker, a great friend, and an amazing daddy. The kids know this. They long for him to come home at the end of each work day. One Saturday a month he has a date with each child, and they ask me multiple times a week when it's their Saturday with Daddy. He's funny, firm, and not afraid to get in and do the dirty work.
But he also has a special power. He can become invisible to my children, especially if I am in the vicinity.
For instance. One of the most amazing gifts he gives to me is the gift of sleep. My kids are EARLY BIRDS and it drives me crazy! But almost every morning, Trent gets up with the kids and lets me sleep until around 7. In case it is not clear, I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON. I adore sleep. Sleep is more precious to me than gold. Or food. Or showering. I depart from my sleep v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. When I stumble into the kitchen at 7am, I'm not fully awake. The rest of the family has been awake for a while, the children have been accompanied by a COMPLETELY COMPETENT PARENT, and yet they suddenly have MULTIPLE, immediate NEEDS. "Mom, can you make me breakfast?" "Where's my library book?" "Will you fix the laces on my shoe?" "Will you put a new roll of toilet paper on?" "Can you peel this orange?" "Can I have a snack?'' I usually just stare at them. Or, actually, glare is probably more appropriate.
"What's the rule?" I mumble. "Don't ask you anything for 10 minutes." "Yes." They linger.
And then it dawns on me "Your dad is sitting RIGHT THERE! Why don't you ask HIM!?" Daddy, reading the paper news or the online news, just smiles up from his fruit and yogurt and says, "What do you need?" "Oh, nothing, dad. I'll just wait."
You know those cartoon people who are so frustrated and confused that only punctuation marks and steam swirls come from their heads? That's me in those moments.
Of all my husband's amazing talents, his ability to be invisible is the one I envy.
