#1 “Go ahead and slide down the stairs, Addie.  I’ll stay on the phone and you can let me know if it hurts…”

Usually when one of us travels, the other stays home with Miss Add.  This time was quite different.  I had the chance to travel with my wife to my first blog conference.  We left Miss Add with her Memaw and Papaw for the weekend.  We called her every day to check up on her and got to hear about her daily adventures with the grandparents.

On our second day at the conference we snuck out and Cris made a call to Addie.  Miss Add immediately asked to speak to me.  Honored, I grab the phone and the first thing I hear is “Daddy, I wanna slide down the stairs at Memaw’s, but Memaw thinks it might hurt me.”

Mind you, Miss Add is still in a cast from a recent misadventure with a horse, so I can understand Memaw’s apprehension when it comes to Miss Add’s next stunt.  In my defense, I don’t want my daughter to lose out on any adventure, big or small, just because it may hurt.  She is still scared to ride horses and frankly to walk for that matter because of her broken leg.  I don’t want her to be scared, so I gave her my blessing.

Here’s how the conversation went: “Go ahead and slide down the stairs, Addie.  I’ll stay on the phone and you can let me know if it hurts…” “Yay!, I’ll be right back…*muffled* “Here Memaw, hold the phone.”  Moments later I hear the sound of her sliding down the stairs followed by a “Wheeeee!”…followed by a loud THUD.

My wife, nor my mother-in-law were impressed with my parenting skills at that time, but Addie got back on the phone with renewed confidence and said “I did it, Dad! I slid down the stairs and it didn’t hurt me!”

Way to get back on the proverbial horse, Miss Add.  Daddy is proud of you.  Unlike your mother and grandmother, who are not too proud of me right now.

#2 “Honey, you could give them fellers from Duck Dynasty a run for their money!  YOU are the new Duck Commander!”

One thing about travelling, staying in nice hotels and eating lots of fancy foods is that your body will sometimes react in not-so-positive ways.  Although fun and enlightening, it is also exhausting, sometimes stressful and , how do I say, a shock to your digestive system.

After a couple days of eating top restaurant quality foods, there was quite a bit of noise in our hotel room… if ya know what I mean.  Now I’m not saying that MY body was completely silent during this, but really, do you ever notice the sound of your own farts like you do those of others???

It sounded like we were duck hunting from our hotel room!  (She is SO gonna kill me for writing this…)

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#3 “I’m too nervous to meet Tanis Miller”

I proudly tout that even though I love admire wholeheartedly adore my wife that it was another woman who changed my life.  Tanis Miller, a.k.a. The Redneck Mommy, has been one of my greatest heroines ever since Cris introduced me to her blog.  Her content was edgy, sometimes raunchy, and full of truth.

Her post about the R-Word led me to rethink how I talked about others and to publicly denounce talking down to others.  To me, the chance of actually meeting her was the same as meeting Eric Clapton, and those of you who know me know how much I loves me some Clapton.

Then on the first full night of the conference, we ended up leaving a party at the same time Tanis was walking out.  I had no clue where she was but then there we all were together.  I had no choice then but to say hello.

It was then I found out something about Tanis…she’s a person.  A real-life, flesh in blood chick who seemed as uncomfortable at that party as I was.  We got to chat for a bit and I will be forever grateful that my wife nudged me to say hello.  I not only got to meet my hero, I got to make a friend.  Thanks, Tanis, for being as normal as you can be…and for making me feel normal too.

And with all this being said…Eric Clapton, if you are reading this, I’d be happy to chat it up with you any time.  Just ask my wife and Tanis…I’m a nice guy.  Call me…

Well that is my side of things, now go check out what 3 Things she is confessing…