Day: June 17, 2007

Paper Necktie

By / June 17, 2007 / 1 Comment

I was in the church hallway trying to locate all my children so that we could begin our walk home, when Link walked up to me smirking. This was his “I have been very clever and gotten away with something” smirk. I took a second look at him and he said,

“Are you looking at my paper tie?”

I looked down and he was indeed wearing a tie made out of a sheet of notebook paper. I’d been so focused on the smirk, that I hadn’t even noticed the tie.

“Why are you wearing a paper tie?” I asked, knowing full well that his silk tie was balled up in the pocket of his white shirt. I’d seen the tie there during sacrament meeting earlier and mentioned that he might want to put it on.

“I couldn’t put my tie on by myself, so a made a paper one.” Link answered smugly.

I smiled in return at his ingenuity in solving the problem of wearing a tie at church. Next week I’ll try to make sure that the leaving-for-church departure is a little less harried. Then I’ll have time to fish the crumpled tie from his shirt pocket and help him put it on.

Of course if I do forget, I’m sure Link will be quite pleased to have a reason to make another paper one.

Howard as a father.

By / June 17, 2007 / 4 Comments

In the year 2004 Howard left a job that paid over $100,000 per year to become a full time cartoonist. When a company pays you that much money, they expect a large portion of your life in return. Howard finally reached the point where he was no longer willing to trade life for money. I fully supported his choice to quit. It was totally the right decision. I got to watch with joy as our family restructured around having a Daddy who works from home. I got to watch Howard really be a Daddy.

What can I say about Howard as a father? He’s the kind of dad who cooks for his kids and then loves to watch them eat. He brings home treats from the grocery store just because a certain child will like it. He takes time out of his schedule to take each of the kids on an individual outing. The kids love these “dates” even if they’re only going to Sam’s Club. He frequently calls me from conventions because he found something there that one of the kids will like and wants to buy it. He plays tickle games with the kids. He lets the kids sit at his elbows while he colors comic strips. He keeps toys in his office so they can play there quietly. He also knows how to use his daddy voice to good effect to keep the kids in line. The kids don’t like that so much, but they need it. When Howard is gone at a convention I’m always fielding questions about where he is and when he’ll come home.

Howard frequently bemoans the fact that he isn’t a better father. I think this bemoaning is actually a measure of how excellent he is at being a father. Complacency and excellence to not often coexist.

I’m so very glad to have Howard as husband and father to my kids.