Yesterday was a good day at work, it might be rare to hear me say that these days but it is the truth. Yesterday was take your kid to work day and my base did a great job of putting together a day full of fun and educational activities. I was only able to bring Lilly with me since the public school that Brenn goes to does not accept it as an excused absence and I figured there was enough arguing in my office without adding to it. Lilly has been looking forward to this day for the last month since I found out about it and I have been too, along with a little apprehension since my office is a very quiet area and not too kid-friendly.
The day started less than perfectly as the BW Parkway was shut down and traffic was terrible getting in to DC, well it is always terrible, but it was worse than normal and took me over an hour to get in. We quickly turned it around as I stopped in at my Dunkin Donuts and they all made a big deal about her and even gave her free munchkins. We walked around the base and I showed her the deflated obstacle course and bounce house, which is where the Lilly-isms started to come out. She wanted to get on them and after walking by a bunch of ceremonial cannons, I told her that someone had to be blown up first. She started crying and saying “No, tell them not to blow it up!” I didn’t get it for a minute or two. She thought we were going to bomb them and literally blow them up. Afterwards, we went to the safety brief and the introduction and I told her that when the national anthem came on, she was to stand up and stay quiet when it was over. I asked her if she remembered the song (we went to Fort McHenry a few months back) and she said “Yes, I remember! That’s the Jesus song, right?” Sometimes she really cracks me up!
We spent some time in my cubicle and she got to tell all of my coworkers about her awesome LuLaRoe dress and how it has pockets and that her Momma sells them. Almost perfectly on cue, she stops mid-sentence and says “Look at that squirrel”. As we walked around the base, she got to see Navy divers practicing in a tank and she even got splashed a little bit. We then went to the Navy museum and she got to learn a little bit (not her favorite), made a Navy Officer’s combination cover and had it match Uncle Gig’s rank as a LT, she pretended to be an underwater archaeologist and dug around and then got to sit on the giant gun mounts (definitely her favorite). We wandered over and got to see some working bomb dogs train and find a training device hidden under a cone and all Lilly wanted to do was pet the dog. Then it was fun time, she got to go to the bounce house! She loves bouncing around and being a total goof ball.
Lilly said that she wanted to see where Daddy takes his walks every day, so we went for a nice walk around Nationals Park. During the walk, we were passed by a bicycling group and as two older people rode past, she says very loudly “Look it is a Grandma and a Grandpa on a bike!” I made the executive decision that we could bring the umbrella stroller even though she is pretty big for it and it was a total blessing! I finished the day with 15,000 steps and a tuckered out 5 year old that kept dozing off in said stroller and I didn’t have to pick her up a single time. After our walk, we went back to my office for a quick lunch and she got to devour her Nutella and peanut butter sammich at her very own cubicle. That was when we got the big news; there are free snow cones on the other side of the base. Off we went and got in the massive line and waited 25 minutes (I waited, she sat in the stroller trying to keep her eyes open) to get a nice, refreshing snow cone. After 4 bites, she said she was done and went back into the bounce house. We said our goodbyes and decided to hit the road. She lasted about 3 minutes in the back seat before the head was back, mouth open and eyes were closed.
That little girl almost always brightens my day and seeing her so happy made my heart smile. These types of things should be possible a lot more than once a year. We spend a majority of our time at work and when we can integrate our family with our work lives, it seems to make people happier and likely more productive. I talked to more people when she was with me yesterday than the 9 months that I have been on this base. Kids can bring so many people together and give us as parents something to relate with each other. A lot of work went into putting such a massive event on, especially considering classification levels of work spaces on a military base, and it was absolutely appreciated by everyone that I saw and talked to yesterday.
I hope to have the opportunity to bring Brennan to one of these types of events in the future. I will be talking at his Career Day next week, so hopefully he knows I’m trying. Lilly will be beaming for days and I am so proud to be able to do that for her. Be there, bring the kids around your work life, be a proud parent and show them the love that they deserve!
Stay strong out there dads!
All Good In The Fatherhood 
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