Winner, Winner, Hammy Dinner

If you've read my last post, then you'll know why last Saturday was such a bad day. I took my cat to the vet in the morning, and I didn't return home with him. When we pulled into the driveway, I was sick to my stomach, my head was thumping, and my eyes were red from crying. But I'm a parent, and you only get to feel sorry for yourself for so long.

After shutting off the car's engine, I released my clench on the steering wheel and turned to look at Daphne. She was drying the corners of her eyes with a Kleenex. We nodded at each other and opened our car doors.

"Let's go see Char-bar."

"Yes, let's," Daphne agreed.

As I walked through the garage, I struggled to put on my game face. My sister-in-law, Phaedra, was kind enough to watch Charlotte while we were gone. Char could hear our approach, and as we climbed the steps I could hear her yell, "Mommy! Daddy!"

My smile became more real.

Luckily, Charlotte hasn't mentioned that Brody is gone. We think his seclusion in the bathroom helped her ease into his absence. Or not. Daphne did some research on pet bereavement, and the main idea is to not soft sell the pet's death by saying, "Brody just went away for awhile," or "Brody's sleeping, honey." Children are very literal, and they will see the conditions of "away" and "asleep" as reversible. Daphne did a nice job of explaining to her that Brody was very sick, and he was going to die. Charlotte seemed to accept Mom's explanation.

I thought this book might be a good way to reinforce Charlotte's concept of death, but I can't even open it. My game face isn't that good.

The rest of our morning went according to script. We played some, and then ate a light lunch. I choked down a few mouthfuls for theatrical effect, and around 1:30 Charlotte went down for her nap. Char usually sleeps for two hours, and I thought I'd take advantage of the time to either go run or take a nap myself.

I did neither. I was too drained for exercise, and I couldn't bring myself to lie down for my first catnap without Brody. I mostly sat, got up, sat down somewhere else, and then got up again. I paced not knowing what to do with my time.

Two hours later Char awoke, and while Mom was reading her books about Little Critter, the phone rang. I didn't recognize the number, but any distraction was welcome.

"Hello. This is Dave, and I'm the director at the Dahl's grocery store on Merle Hay Road. I'm just calling to let you know that Charlotte won the coloring contest for her age group. We thought she was really creative with her use of crayons and stickers..." I don't remember what else he said at this point because I flashed Daphne a big smile and told her, "Hey! Char won the Dahl's coloring contest!"

"What! She did?" Daphne's burst of laughter was so loud I couldn't hear Dave from Dahl's. "Ohhh, Charlotte! You won a contest!" Charlotte looked happy and a bit confused. I don't know if she knew that winning a contest was a good thing, but she was rolling with our laughter.

I got back to the phone, and Dave explained that Charlotte's artwork had won her an Easter Basket and a spiral cut ham. Candy and meat? There can be no better prize for a little girl and her father! I told Dave we'd be right over, and after hanging up I ran over to hug the artist presently known as Charlotte. We did some high fives, too.

We had all forgotten that Daphne had been handed a contest entry a couple of weeks ago. Once Charlotte got excited about the project, she covered it in stickers. Daphne tried to convince Char to use more color and less adhesive, but gave up and let her daughter do her own thing, "It's her picture, after all."

Here's her art on display in the store.  I was planning on writing a post about refrigerator artwork, and how interesting it will be to watch it  evolve. I took this picture because I'm now one of those guys who proudly looks at scribbles and instead sees creativity, expression, and unlimited potential. You know, a dad.

No one ever thought Char was going to win. But the news lifted our spirits beyond expectations. When I danced down the hall to get Charlotte's coat, I looked up at the ceiling and said, "Thanks, God. We really needed this." I wasn't thanking Him for the win or the prizes. I was thanking Him for the happiness.

Here's Char accepting her award. She's escorted by her date, Pinky (who is a boy, by the way), and she had rehearsed her acceptance speech several times in the car. "Thanks for the basket."

"Charlotte, what did you win?"

No matter how dark the day, Charlotte is my favorite shade of sunshine.