The High Price of Free Babysitting

My friend Molly & I went to get sushi tonight and I'm telling you, I had the best sushi I have ever put in my mouth. It was called the Dynamite roll. And it was delicious! I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant for all you locals, but I just can't. Sorry about that.

My freedom and my yummy food came with a price, however. It always does.

Matt very willingly stayed home with the boys and let me have dinner out. But when I got home, however, I began to wonder whether or not it was worth it. I walked in and to my surprise, Wilson was still awake at 11pm. Matt informed me that he had recently finished cleaning paint off of the dining room chairs, table and floor where Wilson had somehow slipped away from daddy's "watchful eye" and released an inner artist that none of knew was in him until tonight. He had opened most of my paints and created a masterpiece all his own all over one of my paintings, and most of the dining room furniture. Later, as I turned down the bed, I noticed that he had completed his work on my bed spread.

My initial reaction to this situation was to get mad. Not at Wilson, of course...what 3 year old wouldn't do that if given the opportunity unattended to? No, my anger was bent a touch more toward his father. My husband. The babysitter. Yep. I was thinking to myself, "Why was he not watching him more closely?? Or at all, for that matter???" So I proceeded to express this anger to Matt, (ever so gracefully and lovingly, of course) which because of such Godly delivery, went over like a rock in a lake as usual.

And then by a sheer act of God, my anger quickly dissipated as I looked at my tired man still awake with our youngest son at 11pm on a work night, all for the sake of my sushi fix. I began to think outside of the exact scene of the crime, and it occurred to me in that moment,that he's not just the father, the husband, and the babysitter. He's a great father, a caring husband and a FREE babysitter! A free babysitter who works long hours, staying pretty stressed out and still is willing to let me go eat yummy sushi with my friend without complaint. He's the free babysitter who loves our kids and bathes them and reads them bedtime stories and tucks them in with a prayer and kiss. He's the free babysitter who wipes down chairs and tables and floors, and cleaned my painting to the best of his ability. And even though he's the free babysitter who naively assumes that when he puts those rascals down, they actually stay down...he's still the best.

So was it worth it? Absolutely.

Paint can be cleaned off of furniture. Bedspreads can be washed and bleached. Paintings can be touched up.

But sushi is made to order, people. And that was really good stuff!! (Thanks to a really great husband!!)

Yummy Yummy Yummy.