pastry time

So it wasn't until I was checking in the new order of pastries that I realized the significance of this day (well, now it's after midnight, but nonetheless...). In order to assure freshness, we have to put a date sticker on all of the pastries that come in each night, but tonight we were out of Saturday stickers, so I used the Friday stickers and just crossed out the Friday and wrote Saturday even though it screws up the color coding... Regardless, I wrote down the date on a sticker and shazam, it suddenly hit me that today is Solveigh's one month birthday! She's actually grown quite a bit. Jenni brought her to the doctor today for her checkup and she's gained almost 2 pounds and grown 2 inches. It's interesting how much we celebrate the things we can measure... 2 inches, 2 pounds, one month. At first, I felt a bit like a schmuck of a dad, not having realized that it was the 29th until it was already too late to celebrate. It's a good thing Solveigh has no conception of time whatsoever. I on the other hand have the pastries.

on simplicity

It happened again today. I was asked by a person who seems to have lots going on what it is that I did for a living. "I make the coffee," I replied. This is what I tell my daughter (three weeks old) when I have to leave her and my wife... "Daddy has to go make the coffee so that the people will be happy," I say. I sometimes feel awkward telling people, particularly people who are strangers and whom I imagine might think that a 33 year old new dad should be doing something more significant with his life than making the coffee. But that's where I realized the beauty of it all again. You see, for so long it has been all about what I could do, but lately, I don't seem much to care about what I can do. I want to go with my wife to Target for infant gas drops so that our kid doesn't have to struggle so hard with the incessant "tooties" that make her grimace and grunt in agony. I want to come home, not to worry about what is or isn't going on at work, but to be home. Yep, I make the coffee so that the people will be happy and leave me the hell alone once I hand the keys over to the next barista who will replace me on the next shift. It's a pretty good gig really... doesn't pay all that much, but tomorrow, I have the whole day off to be with Jenni and the little sweet pea, and I won't think a moment about my job. Rather, I'll rest assured that someone else is making the coffee, and if not, they can all make their own.