Lovely Ladies

Spending time at the Minnesota State Fair today reminded me that nothing is more wonderful than time with my wife and daughter. They are both incredible. I adore them, even when they are driving me nuts. The coolest thing is that my daughter is truly coming into her own. One of the buildings that we toured was the Eco Adventure. It promotes green products, alternative fuels, recycling, local and organic food. My daughter is the one who wanted to start there. She also was genuinely interested in what she was seeing. My wife also kept finding other things that excited her. We are going to have exterior work done on our house in the next few days and are having James Hardy siding put on. It is actually an eco-friendly product that uses recycled wood fiber and cement. Even cooler, though, is that we got even more ideas at the Eco Building for the things we might do next summer.

After our green ideas started to settle, we headed to the Fine Arts building. We split up, but the building is small enough that we ran into each other at times. I know my wife loves art, but it was glorious to watch my daughter process pieces. She does tons of art at home, and I could see her processing what each piece had in it. We had an amazing discussion after we were all done. All three of us had pieces that we liked and could articulate why. I am so blessed to live with such brilliant women.

Our next stop was the Education building. I thought nothing could top the Fine Arts building, but I was wrong. While a number of Minnesota colleges have booths in the Education building, the surprise was the vast amount of student work from young men and women across Minnesota. Some of it came from my daughter's school. As we look at the various art pieces, woodworking items, science projects, reports and creative writing pieces, I could see my daughter's brain spinning with ideas. She has incredible talent in a plethora of areas. Her hunger to create radiated from her as we moved through the building. I have the feeling that some art items and creative pieces may be on their way to next year's Great Minnesota Get Together.

Perhaps the funniest thing in the entire day, though, was watching both my wife and daughter plan their food menu. Both love to have fun with food. Plus, we bought the coupon book so they could get "deals" at a number of booths. Thus, we purchased food from some new places and both of them relished every new dish. They continued their odyssey later in the day. We came home for a time, and then I stayed. Their return not only involved more food fun, but they also watched the talent show for a second year in a row. Thus, they had tons of stories for me the next day. It was adorable to watch them both explode with laughter when they were describing a particular act - be it good or bad.

Many things in my life are incredible, but nothing surpasses these two amazing women. My wife is truly the best writer and editor I know. She is a rare commodity - a talented editor/writer AND a scientist. As a result she is an indispensable asset for the medical school that employees her. In fact she is moving into a new position and is finally being compensated at a level that reflects her immense talent. My daughter dazzles me daily. She creates gorgeous pieces of art, writes effortless pieces of poetry, teaches herself songs on our keyboard, creates amazing pieces on Garage Band AND loves to play. She reads avidly, and she throws herself into games on her DS and fun activities online. I can't wait to see where her journey takes her.

Narcolepsy has taken much from me, but I know that without it, I easily could have missed the best things in my life. This condition has forced me to recognize what is truly important to me. It has also slowed me to the point that I am able to appreciate the miracles around me every day. No miracles are most obvious than my stunning wife and my blossoming daughter. I am a lucky man.