Last week we started with some lessons I have learned since becoming a dad and we talked about Alice (3 year old) and Eye Patch the Octopus.  This week we will talk about Violet (1 year 5 months), my angel and my demon.

I know that I am biased, but I think my daughter is one of the sweetest little girls ever.  With a smile like that you can’t help but imagine that when she speaks she sounds like angel trumpets and gentle winds.  You can’t help but think about how her hugs are so warm and consuming that it melts your heart and turns your legs into jello.  Those things are true.

While Violet is sweet, she also has a bad sad.  I call her Legion, for her tantrums are many.  You can see the wild eyed craziness and almost feel the demon rushing out of her mouth to consume you in anger, pain, and misery.  You can imagine that her screams make banshees shudder.  Her cries are the sound the horsemen make to call in the apocalypse.  Those things are also true.

I love Violet, but I’ll also tell you there are times when she is a raving lunatic that I don’t like that much.  However, there are a lot of parents in my life who like to pretend that their kids aren’t ever demons.  It makes me wonder, if they can’t admit that their kids (especially little toddlers) aren’t perfect, how can I trust them to understand they aren’t perfect either?

What about you?  I know that Violet is a small developing human who isn’t always perfect, and I’m just a bigger developing human who isn’t always perfect.  Do you know this?  Are you strong enough to show this?  Throughout my career I’ve worked with and around too many people who didn’t know they were human.  I’ve worked with too many people who couldn’t admit their mistakes, shortcomings, or failures.  When that happens you can’t have honesty.  You can’t have a relationship.  You can’t have love.

Here’s to my little demon and my little angel.  Here’s to being strong enough to be human.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry