I'm very lucky

When I was a kid, I had many sleepovers at friends houses. The one thing that all of these sleepovers had in common was that the dad in the house was never around. Not that they weren't living there, but if there was a sleepover, they quietly retreated to some other part of the house and let the mom take over all the duties of feeding the kids, calming everyone down if things got crazy, making sure everyone brushed their teeth and, of course, tucking everyone in.
Now our kids are having sleepovers -- granted, they are with cousins -- and my kids' dad is more involved in the sleepover than I am. He is right there ready to play games with the kids, help them pick out a movie and get them a treat to eat. For some reason, Phil is a kid magnet. They love to attack him -- pummel him with pillows, call him a silly-head, or pretend to chop his head off with a light saber. He is down with all that. Then, he rounds everyone up to brush their teeth. I gave everyone a quick kiss goodnight and now he is in there telling a long story. I can hear all this going on now. He is even asking for their input on how the story should go. Next he'll sing a couple of songs and then tell everyone goodnight.
This is how it always go and all I can think is that I'm so lucky.
There is something special about dads, especially if they are away at work all day. They come home and they aren't tired of the kids. They aren't looking at the clock counting down the minutes until they are "free" for a few hours. Phil often seems refreshed after a long day at work when he comes home to the kids and he can quiz them or help Luc with homework or read a book to them.
It sure wasn't that way when I was a kid and I wonder if it was just my dad or if it was just how things were back in the day.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll have to put the kids back to bed a few times before the night is through, but for now I have a few more minutes to myself as I can hear the story is still going on.