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Hey Dad,

Things are pretty busy around here at the moment. We're all scurrying about to get ready for a few days at family snow camp in Wisconsin where I'll be the speaker. Should be a lot of fun … unless I ruin it.

Just three minutes ago, I was able to flex a little FatherPower muscle and slay a mini-dragon for my daughter Maggie (almost 5). Yesterday, she burst in the door after running some errands with my wife holding a very girly-looking kitty calendar.

"Oh, Daddy, isn't this beautiful?" she asked dramatically. "This is my faaaavorite calendar." The rest of the evening she talked about it and how she was going to hang it in her room. Then this morning, she asked me if I could hang it in her room.

To be honest, I was a little busy at the time and don't even remember answering her. She was undaunted and asked me at least two other times. To be doubly honest, I'm not sure I answered her even then.

About five minutes ago, I heard the faint tapping of a hammer against a nail upstairs, and I knew it was my little daughter trying to hang her kitty calendar. So being a good, knight-in-shining-armor dad … I ignored it. The tapping stopped, and I could hear Maggie talking with her hammering-challenged sister, Katherine, for some advice. It was obvious a few minutes later that they were in over their heads because I heard them consult their hammering-challenged mother next.

"Get a picture hanger out of Abe's (7) blue tool kit," I heard her say. That's when God pulled me out of my chair and said, "Get in there and help that girl." The whole operation took about 45 seconds, including the time it took for me to find a small nail.

"Thank you, Daddy," my beaming little daughter said. From the look on her face, I could tell a dragon had been slain. And it only took 45 seconds.

That's the thing about love. It doesn't take much to show those we love … that we love them. but it does take something. We have to get off our duff, and spend a few minutes of our time, thinking, planning, and doing… .

Which brings me to Valentine's Day. We're only about 9 days away. Take a few minutes to show your wife and children how much you love them. It might be a small gift, the gift of time, the slaying of a dragon, or … the hanging of a kitty calendar.

You 'da dad,

© 2009 Todd Wilson. Used by permission

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