Amanda

Written in Nov and posted on MySpace

A few days ago, I had the opportunity to watch Amanda play volleyball in her last game as a senior. Wow did that bring back a rush of memories. In my first blog here, I said I would be posting random musings and memories as they pop in my head.

I remember the day that Amanda was born. At about 3AM, Julie wakes up and says "Kevin, I think my water broke". I was leaving at 4 to go work in San Antonio so I was glad the warning came when it did. Julie gets up and goes to the restroom, I get up and follow. As I walked behind her, I was certain that her water had indeed broken....fast forward past epidural, breakfast with Father and Father-in-law, "get me a Dr. Pepper as soon as the baby is born", 40 people in the L&D room, my announcement that I would watch the Astros that night with my BOY and my surprise at the beautiful baby GIRL God honored me with and we arrive at a quiet time after everyone is gone and Julie and I are staring at this beautiful baby girl that I am holding. As I rock her, Amanda opens her eyes and looks at me. From that moment to this, I am wrapped around her finger and she knows it.

As she became upset because her team was losing, I remembered many times that we have shared...."look Julie she rolled over" (all the family came over after church to see the amazing feat), airplaning, her stubborness (pick up the pen and give it to Mom), our POOP experience, walking in the rain, her swing set on Sweetbriar, first boyfriend, bad boyfriend, promise ring, first car, first wreck ($4300)....

She became more upset and I realized that she has some of my attributes that she would be better of without. I remembered the stupid jokes that are only funny to Amanda, Ashton and I. I remembered "life lessons", explanations of why (not just because I said so), talks that have shown me she is a logical thinker and really really thinks thru a decision.

Most of all, I remembered Butterfly Kisses....she caught me on the couch as it came on the radio and turned it up, came over and crawled in my lap for the entire song (I cried) and gave me a butterfly kiss......I remember a kiss or phone call every night (never missed one) and I remember that I am proud of her. She is turning into a young lady, reaching for independence and finding her own way. I don't think she is near as scared as I am; however, I know she will "do her best" and I know that I will stand beside her no matter what and we will face the world together standing side by side.

Wow, being a Dad is the greatest!