Abby vs. Train

Dad loves trains.  He has collected Lionel Trains for years.  In fact, when I was 2 he bought me a train for Christmas because he was tired of doing 'girl things' and wanted us to do something he could enjoy as well.  When I was little we used to put up a train every now and then and used legos to build bridges, tunnels, zoos etc.  Throughout my lifetime we have gone to many Lionel Train conventions.  These trains are dad's biggest hobby.  He had big plans of building a display when he retired, but that has been put on the side since he got sick.  It has been years...I mean years since he got a train out.  Abby is 10 and she has never ever played with a train.

On Monday night mom and I went to KC for a little Silpada meeting.  She came with me to see some of the new jewelry and get a taste of the Silpada atmosphere.  We got home around 10:30ish that night.  A few minutes into our conversation we heard a train horn.  We both looked at each other wondering what was going on...What was dad up to?!  At first we thought dad was blowing into the wooden train horn that we have had for years, but as I walked into the kitchen I could hear a toy train engine running in the basement!

All of a sudden I screamed "MOM!!!" and ran down the stairs.  Abby followed and had to check out this new toy.

I cannot tell you how much joy it brought to me to see dad's grin on his face.  He had that little boy look as if saying "Look what I did!"  It makes me happy to see him getting involved with life again!  (We hit another rough patch the first 2-3 weeks of July.)  Tonight we are going to go play mini-golf with some new friends.  (My friend Jenny and her parents--they have helped us out a lot when dad first became sick.)  And on Friday we leave for Branson to visit one of dad's old work buds.  It will be so nice to get out of town and have a little break from life!  I can't wait!

P.S.  Look how fast Abby's tail is wiggling!!!  She is such a cutie :)