A regular, not so regular evening

Maybe it was because I had been away for a few days.

Or perhaps it was because the NFO needed to be out for most of the day and into the early part of the evening.

Still, tonight, I was on point and solo for making sure the kids were fed and completed their homework before bedtime.

Lesson 1 was a deep appreciation for how much the NFO does either by herself (due to my travel schedule) or as the lead parent for this part of the day.

But there was a moment, when I was sitting at the dining room table helping both Tikkanen and Lakkanen with their respective homework assignments that time stood still.

We call it a "mental snapshot" and I realized that this was just "one of those school nights" when the kids would think many years hence that they had eaten dinner and done homework. Just a part of the routine of life.

And as I thought that, I recognize, like the old John Lennon adage, that this WAS LIFE.  I realized that, never again, would they be that age, at that time, doing that exact thing.  It was both mundane and profound all at the same time.

I cherished it. As my friend Josh would say, I "sucked out the marrow of Life" in that moment and just savored it for what it was. A dad, helping his daughters with their homework.

It was both fleeting and eternal.