Them

His voice is off-key, and he doesn't really know the chords to any of the nursery rhyme songs she is requesting.  She doesn't care.

"Louder," she squeals as he belts out an upbeat version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb."  "Louder!"

I smile as I clear plates from the dinner table, wash our dishes in the kitchen sink.  Watching them together is one of the sweetest gifts I've ever been given.

For a few moments of this crazy ride we call parenting, I get to be an observer, to step outside the fray and really see what is happening, to enjoy the details as they unfold.  To be real, I sometimes see an impatient father or a demanding daughter or the melt-down that occurs when the two meet.

But sometimes, like tonight, I see the adoring eye of a father watching his little girl twirl, the delight of a daughter who loves to dance for her Daddy, and the rich blessing of getting to share my home and my life with the two of them.