A journey is more than a trip
It can be
across the street or across the country
What
defines a journey,is the memories that you have of
it.
Tyler has been on many trips to Florida to see Grandpa Pete and Grandma Connie
But to us this is
a journey
A journey of the heart that lives in our soul as fresh today as the day it
happens.
Our first journey ,Tyler was mere 2 days old.
My
wife just having been home that night from the
hospital was sleeping and I was watching Tyler.
We were sleeping on the living room floor.
When he
began to cry and I did what most every other new dad
would do.
Take charge of the problem,you
say.
No I panicked and almost started to cry
too.
But then before drowning in a river of tears
with my new buddy.
I simply picked him up,put him
in his stoller and took him out for what would turn
out to be our nightly walks.
No need to worry,he
was born in August not Feburary.
That night is
still fresh in my heart.
A warm breeze blew as if
to comfort to him.
Up in the heavens every star
glittered and the moon was bright enough to look like early morning.
We walked for over an hour,just
going in the same place.
But each time we went
around the block,everything seemed so new.
And the heaven brighter.
The first ones are of a little boy that was a mere 2 months and singing to him in
parents living room.
The song was "There will be
peace in the valley" and I sung him to
sleep.
Tyler will have no memory of this but I
will and it shall a last a life.
I had sung him to sleep and there he lay in my arms.
A little pink
wrinkled baby that actually liked my
singing.
One of journeys occured right here at
home.
During the summer Tyler and I were getting
into the habit of our nightly walks thru the
neighborhood.
On this one rather steamy night,I
was thinking how nice it would be to be at home.
In the comfort of the air conditioner and on tha
sofa
Then as life often does,it took an unexpected turn.
There in the grass was a little toad.
I
became ecstatic,you see Tyler had never seen a
toad.
And I was there to share in this new
discovery of.
We stopped walking and I pointed to
the toad.
"Look" I said to Tyler"See the little
toad".
Well Tyler climbed out of his little car
and knelt beside the toad.
Ever so gently I picked up the toad and we looked and petted that toad for a
good half hour.
All the while Tyler is saying
"Cool toad daddy"and smiling with grin that went on
forever.
This was just one of hundreds of times
that I have been lost in the love and curiosity of a
child.
I have found that the older people get the
less and less we look at life with amazement and
wonder.
This is truly a shame because a child's
view always puts things in adult life into
perspective.
2-27-99
As the days go on and time,much to my
dismay go's faster.I find myself less and less in
tuned to the world around me.
I find myself
watching Tyler more and more.
I play with him more but I refer to watching him grow.
I will sit down
to work on this site or start another or watch the
news and sooner than later my attention will be drawn to him.
The way that he plays differs from even a
month.
His imagination is more vivid with monsters under the bed and catching imaginary fish.
For this see Florida.
He is content using his mega blocks to build trains and snakes(They both look the same except in his eyes).
You have already learned that Tyler likes cows.
Well last summer
Grandpa Pete bought Tyler one of those wooden lawn
cows.
The ones are flat and stand in the
yard.
Well at the end of Janaury we had a pretty
bad snowstorm and Tyler and I were playing in the
snow.
When he saw the cow and said "Daddy cow
cold,cow go in house".
I told him that the cow
probably was cold and the cow could come in the
house.
Again being amazed at the workings of a
childs mind.
So we took the cow in the house and I proceed to make soup and sandwiches for lunch.
Now
the kitchen and living room is separated by a bar and nothing else so you can see the whole living
room.
As I was preparing lunch,Tyler was in the
living room with the cow.
After a few moments I
looked up and saw the cow laying on the couch with a
blanket around it.
I asked to Tyler "Why is the
cow wrapped in a blanket Tyler?".
Well Tyler
looked at me like I was born yesterday and had no
clue,then stated as a matter of fact "Cow cold
daddy,soup for cow?"
So needless to say I
retrieved a third bowl from the cabinet and sat down
to lunch with my boy and his cow.
The cow story
continues a some weeks later when Tyler carefully
digs the cow out from his resting place against the
wall.
As I begin to enter more into this site,I
smell a unpleasant odor coming from the directon of
of my shining angel playing with his cow.
This
odor is quite the eye opener and I begin to wonder if maybe Tyler and the dogs had plotted and planned some kind mass odor fest to deprive me of oxygen and
mortally wound my sense of smell.
But after
careful examination and wary stepping,I did not come
across or better yet step in any doggie torpedoes and deduced that Tyler was in dire of a diaper
change.
After a big inhale,I dove into action with a fresh diaper,SCENTED baby wipes and a can of room
air freshner(Country Meadow Fragrance).
With the
precision of a surgeon,I swiftly removed the
offending odor and relocated it to two bags tied shut,to the garbage can with the lid,to the outer edge of the yard.(Down wind I might add)>
Gasping for air
as I walked back into the house,I noticed Tyler
walking out from his bedroom with another diaper in
his hand.
Cowering in fear and gasping for the
last breath of fresh outdoor air.I hurdled myself at
Tyler and commenced to change his diaper again before the lack of oxygen made the world grow dim..
But
then as the voice (that I thought was coming from my
head)grew louder,I realized it was Tyler saying that
the cow needed to have his diaper changed.(Again I
thought it was a voice in my head that was saying
"change cow diaper".)
It than became clear that
Tyler wanted to change the cow's diaper.
He looked up at me and said"Tyler have babywipes please.Tyler
change cow diaper".
So I handed Tyler the baby
wipes and he set forth to having the cleanest cow on
the block.
With the care of of mother cow,he wiped that cow off from head to toe.
Then came the
diaper.
He found out it was actually quite hard to put a diaper on,especially on a flat wooden
cow.
Seeing how he worked so hard at getting that cow
cleaned up,I helped him put the diaper on the
cow.
So as you make your way through Tyler Town and come across a cow with diaper.
Do not become
alarmed and wonder to yourself what you are doing in
a town of lunatics
It is just a boy with an active imagination and a dad that loves to watch his son
grow
God Bless
