Leave Yourself at the Door

Dear Caleboo,
The other night your Mom and I sat down to relax at the end of a fairly long day.  We were tired and anxious for a break from the days stresses.  About 5 minutes into it you called out from your room for us and I came in to see how you were doing and get you all tucked in again.  We said "I love you" again and you settled in and I went back to be with your Mom.  A few minutes later we were all settled in and comfortable again and you called out again.  This time your Mom went in to see what you needed.

I was a little frustrated that our nice night kept being interrupted and imagined what I'd do if you called out a third time.  As I thought about that I thought that if you kept calling out, you probably just wanted a little more attention than we were giving you.  I thought about times I have a hard time falling asleep, and how grateful I am when your Mom stays up longer than she could reasonably be expected to, just to try to help me go to sleep.  I thought of how that makes me feel loved and important, and I decided that if you called out a third time, I was going to do that for you.

Mom came back and we got settled in to enjoy our evening again.  Sure enough, a couple minutes later came the call from our Caleboo who's "blanket isn't working".  I started to feel upset, and then reminded myself of how you might be feeling.  I told your Mom I'd take care of it and as I walked out I voiced out loud "leave yourself at the door, Dad".  The reason I said that is because I was also thinking of how I was going to make sure I let you know that you were making my night hard, and you needed to learn to be respectful of other's time.  I knew I couldn't really make you feel loved and important, if I was focused more on myself, so I had to choose.

As I left the room and entered your room, I committed to leave behind my selfish desires and just focus on you.  As I did that I was filled with the love I feel for you.  I walked in, gave you a big hug, and asked if you wanted to sit with me.  I barely finished the sentence before you had grabbed a blanket to come cuddle with.  You climbed up onto my lap as I sat in the bean bag chair and just let me hold you.  We sang "Give said the little stream" and "Teach me to walk in the light" together and just sat there enjoying being together.  I was probably only in there for 10 or 15 minutes, but I think we both felt so much better afterwords.  You went to sleep without another word, and your Mom and I were still able to enjoy our night, even if it wasn't how we'd initially envisioned it going.

I think a lot of our relationships in life could be improved if we just tried more often to leave ourselves at the door.
Love,
Daddydoo