Talk Time Tuesday

I was lucky to have one of the world's greatest Dads. Seriously, one of the VERY greatest.

Unfortunately, neither of my girls ever got to meet him--and that makes me really sad. But, I've tried to find little ways to include him (sounds odd, I know) in their lives. It seems to work. He definitely is a known quantity -- and it seems to be in a healthy way. In fact, my oldest daughter (the baby obviously has no clue) loves it when I tell "GrandJim" stories.

Tonight while we were snuggling and reading in bed (sadly, something we don't do nearly as much as I'd like due to competing demands ---read: baby demands to be breastfed at that time), I told her that when I was little my Dad and I had a special night that no-matter-what was my night. It wasn't my brother's night. It wasn't my sister's night. It was all mine. We called it Talk Time Tuesday and we could talk (or not talk) about whatever. It was a wonderful thing then -- and a wonderful thing to hold onto now (I loved it so much that my husband and I used to have our own Talk Time Tuesdays more than a decade ago.)

While I told my daughter this story, her eyes lit up. Her excitement (or maybe it was desperation to retrieve some of "our time" that has been lost--or at least greatly reduced--by the addition of a sibling) was so contagious...and I knew right then it was our time to start having Talk Time Tuesdays. I suggested the idea and grinning ear-to-ear she replied, "YES!"

So, today -- well, more likely tonight -- will be our very first Talk Time Tuesday and I can hardly wait!