Through Their Eyes

Last Friday, we were driving home from picking up the girls. We take PCH home... gonna sit in traffic, it may as well be a pretty view! We had the windows down, the iPod blaring... not too bad eh! I was singing along to some song, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel to the beat. We were at a stand still, so I began looking around. My eyes caught Kali in the rear view mirror. She was watching me, quite curiously. It was such a familiar gaze, it immediately sent me into my own world of memories.

I remember being Kali's age and watching my parents with that same curiosity. What is it like to be a grown up? It wasn't so much an "I can't wait to be older" feeling, but looking back, it's more the comfort I felt by it. I can close my eyes and picture Dad is his old Ford pick up, one arm over the back of the seats, one casually steering the car... and either a classic rock radio station playing quietly in the background, or classical music... I guess it depended on his mood. I've begged my Dad to quit smoking ever since I found out it was bad for you, but I will admit that the sweet smell of the old smoke that is forever stuck in the upholstery of his truck is a reassuring scent to me.

I could easily write a list of the mundane habits of day to day things my Dad has.. even now that I haven't lived at home in 6 years, I'd bet he still goes about his daily tasks the same way. There is a level of familiarity to it that creates that wonderful contentment of being "home". To this day, I always sleep better when I'm in the same house as my Dad... sure it's limited to family vacations now a days, but when I'm drifting off to sleep and can hear Dad shuffling his feet in his slippers, filling up the coffee pot for tomorrow, muttering to the dog, and the TV humming quietly in the background, it's a guarantee for a great night's sleep.

Snapping back into the flow of traffic on PCH, I began to wonder how this same dynamic played out between the girls, and Josh & I. Is Kali watching my fingers drum to the beat, and later in life thinking back on all the times we drove on PCH with the wind in our hair, singing our favorite songs? While they lay in bed at night, does hearing Josh laugh at TV shows, and mutter to Rufus as we go to bed give them the reassurance that all is well in the world? It's kind of neat and scary all at once.