Baby Aisles and Cinderella

This guy sitting next to me in this coffee shop is eating a salad with no meat...and to top it off I can smell the excessive amount of vinegar used to top it all. 

Rule #1:  never eat a salad without meat in it.

Rule #2:  never eat a salad without meat in it.

Last night I had a dream that I was getting a colonoscopy.  It was the worst dream that I have ever had, except for that time I was getting eaten by a cheeseburger.

Can you believe that? A cheeseburger was eating me.  

I mean it could just be something in the air that is causing me to have these dreams.  Look what it's doing to the rest of my family...

Causing them to sleep all funky and weird.  Literally, it's like they are stuck this way and when I try to move them I get a groan or a paw to the face.

Plus, doesn't that look super comfortable?

Everyone has heard the story of Cinderella.

Well maybe not everyone.  And if you haven't, then I ask you, what kind of childhood did you have?

If you haven't, let me sum it up real quick.  Cinderella was a slave girl to her step mom and two evil step sisters.  She would work for them all day, filling their every desire, cooking, cleaning, and was paid with nothing.  Then one day, the prince of the land asked for all the young woman to come to him for a ball, and he would then choose to marry one.  Cinderella of course, could not go, but with the help of her fairy godmother, she was transformed into this beautiful princess and sent to the ball.  But at midnight, she would be turned back into her rugged garments.  

So, come midnight, she ran away from him and left only a slipper behind.  When the prince went for her, and could not find her, but only found the glass slipper, he searched every woman, making them try on the glass slipper, to find Cinderella. And of course, as any fairytale would end, Cinderella was able to try on the slipper, and it fit.  She then went on to marry the prince and live happily...ever...after.

What a great story...a true underdog Cinderella was.

You know, Cinderella actually means, "one whose attributes are unrecognized, or one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity and neglect."

Now the only reason this story is at the forefront of my mind is because my wife has gotten me hooked on a TV series called "Once Upon A Time" and I have grown to love it...3 episodes at a time love it.

But there is something fascinating about this story.

Like the definition for Cinderella states, success usually comes with neglect, and it creeps up on us unexpectedly.  Many of our traits that will lead us to success are unrecognized and often times go without recognition.  Take Bill Gates for instance.  He dropped out of college to pursue his dream...people called him crazy but I think we all know now that he is far from that.  I mean his first business, "Traf-O-Data" failed.

Or what about Albert Einstein.  He couldn't speak until he was 4 years old.  Teachers thought he was a dud...lazy.  Yet, he went on to create the theory of relativity, which most people still can't understand.

And probably one of the most well known artists, Vincent Van Gogh, was never recognized for his paintings until long after he was gone.  I mean he only sold one painting in his entire life! And despite having no money and being poor, he continued his dream and now he has nearly 900 works of art on display around the world.

And I could go on and on with this but the point is, what is your success story going to look like?  We all have the ability to succeed in some capacity.  For some of us it may be becoming a professional athlete...others an author...others a new anchor...others a family man or a stay at home mom.  But what ever it is, we all have a dream, and if we are not careful, we will go our whole life never pursuing it.

If we are not careful, we may wake up one day and realize that this gift of time that we have been given is no more.

And that's why I love the ending of Cinderella.  She knew she wanted something more...she desired something more and she worked her whole life, never getting an opportunity.  But when she finally did, she took advantage of it and changed her life.

See no one decides the path you choose to take.  Only you can take the first step.  Don't ever be content with where you are, because God has great things in store for you.  When you feel as if you have failed, keep searching.  When you are on your hands and knees, filthy, tired, and overwhelmed, remember, we all have the power to get back up.  But it depends on your willingness to do so.  

Who do you want to be remembered as?

The other day we were hanging out with the Schneiders (sorry if I spelt it wrong...not everyones name can be as easy as Doyle).  They took us to this cool, far to hip for us, coffee shop called "A Cup of Common Wealth".  

It was quite tasty.  They even had an old record player playing records in the corner...hipster.

When bae says no.

Don't mind Eric's arm.  It was pointing at something.  It reminds me of those chalk board, pointing fingers you find in hipster places telling you where to go.  Like to the bathroom.  Or exit.  You know?

I love mornings like this morning.  I got to cook breakfast for my wife, which is rare because I wake up in the early hours of the morn for work, and she sleeps a little longer.  But on days like today, I get to, and I love it.

Especially, when she brings the blanket downstairs and enjoys her breakfast like she is still in bed.  It's like breakfast in bed.  It's like she never had to get up.  She is fooling the breakfast.

If I am lucky, she may drip some egg and hot sauce on the blanket, and it will give me a bedtime surprise for later. 

I can only hope.

This is going to be my main due for the next couple weeks.  He was sent to me by my cousin Brooke in AZ,  His name is Stanley and he is super cool.  

He is everything that I could ask for in a friend, besides the talking part...

Is it weird that I carry him everywhere and force him to take selfies in front of random things and people? I suppose that is a benefit of no talking.  He has no say what we do.  He doesn't care...or maybe he does.  Regardless, he gives a mean paper cut.

Baby update:  Baby Doyle is not the size of a bell pepper!  He's getting there.  We have yet to find out the sex of the baby but I am feeling a boy.  Mercedes says she has no idea what she thinks it is, but that's cause she is pregnant and is feeling weird things all the time.

She knows it is a boy, she just doesn't know it yet. 

But in all seriousness, I am happy with either one.  I actually would love a girl.  But think a boy would be so cool.  You know, to do boy things with.  Fish, light firecrackers, shoot things with slingshots, give indian burns and wet willies to one another, play forts everyday, action figures, comic books.  I just want to enjoy these things with a son someday.

We find out the sex in two weeks and I am beyond stoked to find out.

Either way, this has become the popular aisle for my wife and I.

I still have a hard time comprehending this idea of being a father.  For a long time, I thought that when I had a kid, I would be set.  I would have it all figured out and know exactly what I was doing.  I have come to find that is further from the truth than anything else.

And as I try and try to figure out what parenting style I have, or how I will discipline them, or how I will get them involved in church and loving Jesus, I realize that you will never, ever be ready to have a baby.  Ever.  And although I do not have one yet, I just assume this because I see people prepare and prepare and plan for their baby to come, and they still end up missing something.

So I guess the best advice I have heard this far is, "It's a ticking time bomb".  Coming from the words in Juno the movie, this is true.  You don't know what will happen...how crazy it will be and how fast pace your life will become.  How to plan or how to prepare.  It will just come. But you do know that something beautiful and huge will come out of it.  And I can not wait.

Until then, I get practice with Hurley.

Benjamin Button said, "For what it's worth: it's never to late, or in my case, to early to be whoever you want to be.  There is no time limit; stop when ever you want.  You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing.  We can make the best or the worst of it.  I hope you make the best of it.  And I hope you see things that startle you.  I hope you feel things you never felt before.  I hope you meet people with a different point of view.  I hope you live a life you're proud of.  If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

Until next time,

-JTD-