Positives Cancel Negatives

I would be lying if I said that the last couple of weeks have been a walk in the park. Just like eating a great meal only to have heartburn hours later, my days of peace and stress-free living have been replaced by acidic attacks of disappointment and anxiety. I realize that good times and bad are cyclical, so I will ride this season out with my head up.

To negate the events that have me losing sleep, I did have a couple of events that put a pure smile on my face. The first was having some very dear friends of mine, the Davenports, come for a visit. I use the term "friends" pretty loosely considering that they are more like family. Rhonda is one of 3 other ladies that I keep in regular contact with through bi-weekly conference calls. She is an invaluable friend who constantly speaks wisdom, love and perspective into my life. And while she was here, we were able to enjoy some of the best things in life: Sunday morning service, great food, and an long overdue pedicure.

The other event that really filled my heart to the brim was my date night with Jason and Dallas. They have been anticipating the release of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" ever since they saw the poster advertising its upcoming release. I told them that I would take them out on a double-date the night that it was released. When the release date came out, they started counting down the weeks, then the days, then the hours.

I started "date night" with Jason and Dallas a couple of years back. The majority of the time, it is and opportunity for them to have an evening out alone with Mom. We normally will go to dinner and a movie and then maybe even do a little something fun after that. Mostly, it's an opportunity for us to just have that one-on-one time that they so desperately crave and need.

During our date, I try to teach them what a young man should do, not just on date night, but on a regular basis. IE: Open and hold the door for his date, pull out the chair, use good manners, etc. Basically, I try to teach them how to treat a lady. Kenny does as well...but they don't get to practice what they are taught with Kenny. It's on date night with Mom that they get to show me their date skills.

Their skills do not disappoint, that is for sure. On our last date, Jason came out of his bedroom wearing his best shirt, hair combed, teeth brushed and proclaiming that he was ready. Mind you, any other day, it would be wrinkled t-shirts, dirty shorts, uncombed hair and barely brushed teeth. A metro-sexual, he is not.

Dallas didn't dress up too much, yet during our date, he brought a huge smile to my face on several occasions. He and Jason would fight over who was going to hold the door for me and when asked what restaurant they wanted to go to for dinner, he replied, "I don't care, Mommy. I just want you to have a lovely evening."

A lovely evening it definitely was. Definitely.