“Mommy? when was your first ‘true-love’s kiss’ with daddy?” Trinity asked from the backseat. Her eyes were shining as she asked this question. I could tell she was genuinely curious. So I told her but apparently it wasn’t enough.

“But what was it LIKE? Did he put his hands on the side of your head?”

I divulged a few more details, much to her delight, and then told her, “Falling in love is really fun and exciting…but you don’t want to just kiss anyone. You want to make sure you’re with the right person. It’s WAY better that way!”

Apparently this topic continues to fascinate her because it was a few days later when she randomly said, “I just WONDER how they do it! I mean…Do they just lean in? How do boys do it?!”

“Do you mean, are they scared or nervous when they kiss you for the first time?”

“Yes! They must need a lot of courage.”

“I bet daddy was a little nervous but excited the first time he kissed me.”

“Well,” she replied, “Daddy has a LOT of courage now!”

As I laughed she added, “What?! What’s so funny? He kisses you all the time.”

True. And that’s as important to our girls as it is to me.

She’s a bit young but I hope that over the years she sees that real courage is not just a first kiss but a lifetime of kisses through the exciting and the mundane, through adventures and every day nitty-gritty of life, through relaxing evenings on the porch and nights of sleep-deprivation from infants or sick kids. Courage is saying “I’m in this with you, no matter what life brings our way,” and meaning it. As we approach father’s day, I’m so thankful my girls have a father who is a man of courage and I pray that one day they will find one of their own.

In honor of the topic of this post and the fact that my aunt and uncle recently sold the house where we were married, here is some photographic evidence of Andy’s ‘courage’:
Photographs by Lauren Natalie Photography: http://www.laurennatalie.com/