Old Man Exercising

I’ve been trying to get in shape. Lately I’ve been running in the morning with a neighbor who does marathons. She has kindly set up a running schedule to get me up to speed. It’s pretty rigorous and I can’t tell you how much I hate getting up early in the morning to do it.

The other day, after my running partner upped the distance, I came home and was really tired. The rest of the family was still asleep so I went upstairs, threw a towel on the bed, because I was still sweaty, and laid down. I was breathing pretty hard. A minute or two into it I felt a little pat, pat, pat, on my chest. It was my daughter Rose comforting me.

“Daddy?”, she asked.

“Yes?”

“Are you OK? Do you want me to wake up Mommy?”

I opened my eyes, turned my head and looked into her concerned face.

“No, I’m fine, let Mommy sleep.”

I sat up and gave her a big hug to which she replied, “Ewwww.”

I let her go and she ran away. Then I went and took a shower.

EUREKA!

My kids made a remarkable discovery the other day. I was sitting with my father-in-law, just talking on the couch in the family room, when we heard Joseph get very excited about something. We both looked into the kitchen and saw him standing by the refrigerator. He wasn’t standing in front, he was standing to the side and had his face pressed up against the side where the door actually meets the main fridge body and seals shut. Several times he opened and slowly closed the door until something magnificent happened that got him all excited!

“Michael! Come here quick!”, he shouted.

Michael came in and said…”What?”

“Look! Look! Watch this!”, he exclaimed.

Slowly they both repeated what Joseph had done just a minute before by himself. They whispered amongst themselves and the level of energy between them increased. Rose came ambling into the kitchen and joined the group. Now we watched as all three of the triplets made a discovery that reminded me of that scene in the film, “2001: A Space Odyssey” , when the alien monolith implanted intelligence into the minds of the cavemen. I could almost hear the heavenly host singing “AAAAAHHH” as clouds parted and beams of sunlight bathed my children in an all knowing light.

“THE REFRIGERATOR LIGHT TURNS OFF WHEN THE DOOR CLOSES!”

You could hear the awe in their whispered voices as they discussed this newly found truth. Joseph opened the door and made his next big discovery, the light switch that made it happen! They stood there playing with the switch for a long time, each taking turns, pushing the button in and out and making the light go on and off. It never ceases to amaze me how many times stuff like this happens in their lives on a daily basis.

Next I thought if I should now tell them that there weren’t little men inside the car radio.