Leaving the house

Leaving the house in the morning has never been easy for me. Not that I don't like my job, because I do. Its just that I really like being with my wife. Having a baby has only complicated the situation.

We were married for almost four years before Kiddo came along. C and I met at work, so for the first year and a half of our marriage, we were able to get up and go together in the morning. Then I graduated from college and got a "real" job.

For the first time leaving for work meant leaving my beautiful wife behind. It meant being by myself for hours and hours. That made if kind of hard to get out the door.

Last summer I got a new job; it's a job I love, and C noted that for the first time in a while I was getting up early to get out the door for work. In fact, on average I was getting to work about an hour earlier than I had been for my previous job (both jobs have flexible schedules).

Then Kiddo came along. Now I'm finding it is really hard to get out the door in the morning.

To tell the truth, I do all right when he's asleep. The past week I've been trying to leave before 7. If I can get out the door before I see his smile, then I'm fine. But if I don't get out the door before that first smile of the morning comes, well then I'm toast.

Take today, for example. Today I got up at 6:15. I had hopes of catching the 6:50 train. Those hopes were dashed when I answered some e-mail before breakfast. That's okay, I decided, there is always the 7:05. But then C and Kiddo got up. We started talking. Then Kiddo started smiling. Then it was 7:15. At that point, I couldn't make it for the 7:20 train, so I kept playing with Kiddo. But I didn't stop early enough to catch the 7:35: I was pulling into the parking lot when the train pulled through my station. That meant I was on the 7:50 train.

But I ask you: who can resist a smile like this: