On one of my 368 trips to IKEA in the past 3 weeks I picked up some of their coffee.  Yesterday we had it and maybe it was a bad day, but in my opinion it was nasty.  Ugh.  I didn't even drink it and didn't get my coffee fill until about 3pm yesterday when I begged Maris for a cup!

This morning I drove through Starbucks after dropping off Cayden at school.  While I was leaving I saw the same man that I had seen in the neighborhood while dropping Cayden off.  He was pushing his infant son in a jog stroller through the neighborhood and then heading to Starbucks.  I smiled when I saw him and imagined that he was “dad of the year” and he had his son out on an early morning stroll so that his tired wife could sleep in on Friday.  He probably has Friday's off from work and instead of choosing to sleep in himself he let his wife sleep in who has been with the baby all day and night for the whole week.  I applauded him in my head for his early morning actions of love towards his wife!

Now for all I know he could be a single dad, a stay at home dad or a really nice Uncle taking his nephew out for a stroll!  But I think I'll let my imagination keep him as “dad of the year”!!!

Then I saw a grandpa and his granddaughter walking into Starbuck's together.  She looked to be about 5th grade or so.  They were talking and smiling as they walked in.  He clearly was a grandpa that was involved in his grandkids lives.  She seemed to enjoy being with him and not just feeling like she had to be with him.  Seeing them together brought back so many memories for me this morning.  My grandpa was AMAZING and would have been this grandpa taking his grandkids to Starbuck's.  He was very involved in our lives.  We took vacations with him, he talked to us about his life, we stayed at our grandparents house over night, he showed me what it meant to truly love people and love Jesus.  I miss my grandpa and truly wish that he could see me now.  He died in 2003 and never got to meet any of my kids.  In fact we found out we were pregnant about a month after he died.

I wish that my grandpa could have met my kids and been an influence in their lives as well.  The good thing is that  my grandma was as much an influence in my life as he was and she is still here influencing me and my kids!

I love when I see families loving on each other.  I truly love it.

*Summer of 2009 – two of my kids with their Pops and Uncle Jordan