Father/Daughter Time

This past February I decided what I wanted most for my birthday was a long weekend away by myself to read, relax and just catch my breath from the day to day chaos of being a wife, mother and part time employee.

Don't get me wrong....life is good. Life is great! I've been so very blessed to have two beautiful, healthy, and talented children and a husband of 22 years who has worked hard to support us. He has given me one of the greatest gifts which is to be able to stay home and raise my two children. Even though they are teenagers now, they still need "raising"!

Anyway, I couldn't come up with anything I needed for my birthday so I requested a long weekend of a little R and R. I had originally planned to go by myself but got to thinking that it might be fun to have a companion!

As we grow older, go away to school, get married and have our own families we see less and less of our parents and siblings. It's never intentional but we get busy with our own day to day lives. With technology today we talk more but also talk less. What I mean is that very often I "talk" to my family members but don't hear their voices. We email and text because it's convenient but in reality we're cheating ourselves out of the opportunity to actually talk to each other, to listen and to hear each others voices. I got to thinking how sad I would be if my last conversation with my Dad had been a text or an email and not a phone or face to face conversation. He only lives two hours away but because of our busy schedules we rarely see each other except for holidays and family events.

So....I asked my dad to come with me on my mini get away. He of course thought I was joking or maybe having a case of the winter blues but I told him no, I was serious. He agreed, we planned and on April 15th we flew to Amelia Island, Florida.

Just he and I!

I can't tell you how long it's been since I've had my Dad to myself because I honestly can't remember the last time! It's been that long.

The best part of the five days? We did absolutley nothing!! We didn't rush around sightseeing, didn't fish, horseback ride, golf or ride bicycles (all of which were available).

We did nothing!

We spent five days just enjoying being together. We talked, we shared memories, and Dad shared some of his life history with me. We read quietly on the beach for hours, often not speaking for long periods of time. We didn't need to. We were together in the same town, on the same beach, under the same umbrella! I know, as I've known since I was little, that he's always there for me even when we aren't under the same beach umbrella.

I'm so grateful to have had the time to just BE with my Dad. I will always cherish those five days on Amelia Island when I had my Dad all to myself! I've made myself a promise to pick up the phone and speak to my relatives more often rather than being lazy with an email or a text. I challenge you to do the same. There is nothing like hearing the voice of a friend or loved one. There is simply no subsitute!

Lastly, there is nothing as special as a Father/Daughter relationship. It doesn't matter if you're six or forty six. A daughter always needs her Daddy time!

Thanks Dad!

I love you!

Forgiveness - No Better Gift

We all make mistakes. However, every now and then we do something really, really stupid and we can't call it a mistake! It was planned and we thought, well thought out.

It wasn't.

It was bad judgement.

I had a day like this last week.

People who know me well know that I love April first. It's always been one of my favorite days of the year. My family and friends take the time to remind each other of the day. They usually scatter on this day and try to stay out of my view. They take turns keeping an eye on my whereabouts. Most of them at some point in time have been victims of a Laurie Paisley April Fools joke. I can recall most of the harmless April Fool's pranks I pulled on people from my elementary school days through adulthood. They've all been harmless.

Until last week.

I'm not going to go into the details of the day but trust me when I say, in looking back, the prank was thoughtless, not amusing, harmful and potentially disastrous. Disastrous because I damaged an amazing friendship and almost lost a very important person in my life. When I realized the damage I had done I apologized but realized an apology wasn't going to be enough. For several days I was literally sick. I had messed up and messed up in a big way. There was nothing I could do to fix things.

It was out of my hands.

My friend was the only one who could repair the damage that I had done. Sounds ridiculous doesn't it? I was at fault, he/she was the victim but I couldn't repair the damage to the relationship....

There was only one thing that could take away the pit in my stomach, the sleepless nights and the ache I had in my heart....his/her forgiveness.

After five silent days and a ton of prayers, I heard from my friend. Words cannot describe the feeling I had when I saw that email in my in box. It took several email exchanges to get it settled. I deserved every bit of the disappointed tone and lecture I received. In fact, I welcomed it! When it was all said and done I felt relief like I have never felt before.

I am so grateful to my friend who found it in his/her heart to forgive me. I would have suffered for a long time without that forgiveness. It's exhausting and painful to carry a load of regret around for any length of time.

If you have strained relationships with friends or family members, I encourage you to put your anger and hurt aside and find it in your heart to forgive.

Forgiveness - There is no greater gift that you can give.

Thank you for your gift!