My days at work seem to get longer and longer somehow.
Intellectually, I can explain this to myself and family with ease, but it doesn't improve the quality of our time together.
One has to have time in order to achieve that ever elusive quality time ! Right now, my family's financial circumstances won't permit me to be home more.
I just had to come up with an idea, an intervention that would help all of us enjoy the limited time we do have together right now.
I hit upon an idea that involves using our outdoor gas fireplace.
My children are eight and nine years of age.
I don't get home until 9 o'clock in the evenings.
I can go several days at a stretch without connecting with them.
Now, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, they take a nap after school, once they have finished a healthy snack and completed an hour of homework.
My wife gets them set up with showers and has their beds ready for a toasty sleep.
She awakens them around 7:30pm and they help her with setting the patio table for supper.
While she cooks, they finish up their homework and chores.
When I get home, we have supper by the light of the outdoor gas fireplace.
In more ways than one, this has been a brilliant idea.
The quiet of the evening brings a kind of lull to the atmosphere between our family members.
The kids are rested, my wife is gearing down from the demands of her day, and so too am I.
With the demands of the office behind me, I can focus more clearly on my kids and what they want to share with me.
Additionally, mealtimes are just more relaxed and nobody is in a hurry for them to be over with.
We take our time, laugh a lot and eat over a couple hours' period of time.
Indigestion is a thing of the past.
Buying this outdoor gas fireplace is the smartest thing my wife and I ever did.
There is nothing like snuggling together out-of-doors, stomachs pleasantly filled, and spirits ready for a bedtime story.
Basked in both firelight and moonlight, one could not ask for a nicer or more peaceful way to end a day.