Several
years ago, I returned home from a trip just when a storm hit, with
crashing thunder and severe lightning. As I came into my bedroom
about 2 a.m., I found my two children in bed with my wife,
apparently scared by the loud storm. I resigned myself to sleep in
the guest bedroom that night.
The next day, I talked to the children, and explained that it was O.K. to
sleep with Mom when the storm was bad, but when I was expected home,
please don't sleep with Mom that night. They said OK.
After my next trip several weeks later, my wife and the
children picked me up in the terminal at the appointed time. Since
the plane was late, everyone had come into the terminal to wait for my
plane's arrival, along with hundreds of other folks waiting for their
arriving passengers. As I entered the waiting area, my son saw me,
and came running, shouting, "Hi, Dad! I've got some good news!"
As I waved back, I said loudly, "What's the good news?"
"Nobody slept with
Mommy while you were away this time!", he answered.
The airport became very quiet,
as everyone in the waiting area looked at my son, then turned to me,
and then searched the rest of the area to see if they could figure
out exactly who his Mom was.