Mama and Baby's Big Day Out

Donny and I had a coffee date at the local Christian University.  It was just going to be a casual date.  (Relationships, like plants, need regular tending and care even after they are well established.)  We saw a good friend, (oddly enough, the very friend who had first alerted me to the existence of this particular coffee shop.)  While sipping our drinks- or just pouring them over our heads-we met a very nice woman named Clare, and she and I had a great little intellectual chit-chat about my necklace that says, Life is a Beautiful Ride.  I told her that I thought a bike ride, with it's hills and valleys, straight paths and blind corners, was a good metaphor for life.  I used my date as an example; who would have thought, that after 23 years of marriage, Mr. M and I would adopt a newborn?  Clare and I agreed that when, as Christians, you know that God sees
your path perfectly even when you have no idea what's ahead, you can just trust Him and enjoy the ride.   

From there, I took my date to the campus bookstore-a home away from home for me-and we looked at the literary offerings.  I got him a book about kids with special needs.  I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't filled with joy as I interacted with special needs kids.  That type of compassion and joy is something I definitely want to pass on to him.  After the purchase, we found a nice, shady spot by the car and read the book.  That made me want to ask my friends:  What unique gifts or character traits do you want to pass on to your children--or anyone else who is in your life?

From there, we got in the car, cranked upthe tunes, and rolled the windows down.  We want to give Donny a well-rounded appreciation of music, and 80s music seems especially well-suited to listening to loudly in a pimped out ride; although I don't know how much musical appreciation can be found in Bobby Brown's "It's My Prerogative."