Yup.  I screwed up.  All Vann wanted for Father’s Day was to sleep in.  No taking anyone to the potty, no leading girlies back to their beds, none of those fun nighttime rituals.  I had all these plans to get the ankle biters out of his hair: a walk bright and early, before it gets hot?  a trip to the donut store?  daddy waking to both Charlie and I covered in batter, baking him a Pillsbury Funfetti cake in the kitchen? Sadly, none of these things occurred because after I got up with Charlie at 6 for the standard pottydaddymommywillyouturnthetvonformeupstairs conversation, I apparently went back to bed and entered a coma-like state.  The next thing I know, it’s 8:30, Vann is doing the breakfast routine, I’m still in bed, and I have no time to get ready for church (as his other request was “going to church as a family”).  Fantastic. I’m really not sure what I did to deserve a man so giving and loving and willing to sacrifice his Father’s Day morning so that I can sleep in.  Vann and I have a pretty harmonious marriage.  But this past 18 months has been the hardest time in our relationship, and I know he goes unrecognized for all of the juggling he does in our family life.  The truth is that I couldn’t have asked for more in a husband.  God blessed me with a man who is kind, generous, selfless, and wicked smart.  Some of my favorite times with my hubby are when we are watching something on TV and he explains things to me in “layman’s terms” and we end up having these amazing conversations, about politics, and history, and life.  He is respected in his job and is notoriously a “people person” – which pretty much means that everybody loves him.   He has dreams for his family and for his girls, is fiercely protective, and has never micro-managed me or my need for time to myself or with girlfriends.  I have an amazing Dad who always puts his family first – even though I am 33 he makes sure I have good tires on my car.  He climbs up into the attic of our house in the middle of the Texas summer to check our a/c unit.  He fusses over my girls and has the answer to EVERYTHING. My Dad has lived a wild life (he was an Olympian in the 1988 Calgary games and has had lunch with Prince Albert at the palace in Monaco – just to name a couple examples), and sometimes I’m sure he is an intimidating pair of shoes to fill.  But Vann is well on his way to being the kind of father to our girls that my Dad has been to me.  And even if they don’t know it at 10, or 15, or even 25, they will – when they become mothers and get married and enter their 30’s – they will “get” it, and love him more than they ever thought possible. So honey, I’m sorry you didn’t get the morning you were hoping for.  I will try to do better next time.  Until then, know that we love you and can’t live without you. Happy Father’s Day.