Last night I had a brief glimpse of the man that my son will someday become, and it brought tears to my eyes. Research shows that the most powerful role model in a child's life is the same sex parent (with the other parent and very close second). Fortunately for me, I have chosen that role model well for my son. I continue to learn about the man my husband is, and love that this is the person who will so dramatically impact the life of Grant.

Last night, Joel and I had dropped off Grant at a local childcare facility and had a few hours to ourselves for date night. As an aside, let me mention a bit about what "date night" means these days. Date Night B.C. (Before Child) used to consist of getting all dressed up, reservations at the newest and trendiest eatery in town, and multiple bottles of wine that typically cost more than both our dinners combined. Intellectually stimulating conversation would follow (and usually last most of the evening as Joel is long-winded :-). A few hair flips on my part, maybe a show, maybe theater, and the night was still young! Date night A.C. (you get the idea) is a good bit different, but far more appreciated than the B.C. Date-Night. Getting all dressed up now consists of finding something that hasn't had cookie or mac & cheese smeared on it. Take out, rather than reservations, is the preferred manner of dining. Spending a few hours in an unusually quiet house is a gift. Wine? Well we still like our wine...However we're less snobby than we were before. To illustrate this point, I can admit to having a lengthy conversation with some new friends of ours (parenst of 2 kids) about the benefits of wine bottles with screw caps and the quality of some extraordinarily fine boxed wine. Anyway, just so we're clear on what date night was last night: take out, cheap wine, DVD of the television show 24.

After our quiet evening, Joel and I decided to go to our local Hollywood Video before picking up Grant. We found the movie we wanted and wandered up to the counter. We were laughing about some of the candy available for purchase there (and how grateful we were that our sugar-monster, Grant, wasn't with us. Joel asked if we should get him a candy that had Mickey Mouse on it (his current obsession). I immediately vetoed that bright idea (see the push-pop post for further explanation), but pointed to a sign that was asking for candy donations for the children of Austin's Children's Hospital--I guess that Hollywood Video is sponsoring a Movie Night there--and suggested that Joel go pick out a pack of M&M's for that. Joel paused, quickly turned around and headed back to the candy. I was in the process of checking out, when my husband comes around the corner with both arms full of dozens of packs of all kinds of candy. It was such a spectacle that people were stopping to watch (they were also starting to go grab some candy for donations themselves). The salesperson (a young kid) just kept saying, "Man, that's so cool...that's so cool." And it was. And that's my husband. My son's most powerful role model. From this cool guy, my son will learn what it is to be a man. He'll learn that when I call his Dad a "wonderful provider," that it means more than that he takes care of his family financially, but that he's a provider of all things good. Provider of hugs, provider of kisses, and security, and encouragement, empathy and patience, and unconditional love...always uncondiational love. Life is good.