What I Learned from LEGOS About Being Present While Absent

     This morning as I left for work Cole handed me a "Snow Trooper" LEGO figure from one of his Star Wars LEGO sets. He said "Daddy, don't take his gun away from him". I knew he wanted to play Star Wars LEGOS with me. But I was late getting out of the house so I told him, "I'll put him right here in my pocket and he can go with me everywhere today." Later on, while in a meeting, I reached into my pocket and discovered Snow Trooper just chilling in there. I thought it would be funny if I sent Cole a picture of Snow Trooper attending the meeting with me. So I took a picture with my iPhone and emailed it to Susan so she could show Cole.

Then something absolutely magical happened. After lunch, I sat down at my desk and saw that I had two new email messages from Susan. I opened them up and to my extreme delight there was this picture with the subject heading, "We love you daddy and hope you have a great day." The second message had a picture with the subject heading, "Snow Trooper Farting On Nonnie's Deck." This is AWESOME!!!! so I sent another one to them. It read, "Snow Trooper Helping Me Type This Message. He misses you."

Our conversation is still continuing. But I learned that even while I am away at work, there is always something I can be doing to make my family feel like I care. I can let them know I am thinking about them and that there is nothing more important than they are. I am learning how to be present even when I am absent.