"I love you." "I know."

Freelancing has improved my work ethic. I try to get in eight solid hours work a day now that I'm working out of a home office. That means waking up, checking yesterday's work, taking a break for breakfast and the morning routine, getting Lily on the bus, working solid for another five hours, then picking her up and squeezing in what I can in the couple hours before Jen gets home.

Last week, Lily was doing some coloring and I thought that would give me a chance to get a little work done. But, five minutes in, she approached me with her picture in hand and asked if I wanted to help. I told her that she was doing a nice job and she should keep at it, but she protested, telling me that this was a picture for mommy and it would mean more if it came from both of us. How could I say no to that?

So we were coloring it, each of us working on another piece of the picture, and Lily was so serious, with her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth, concentrating like this was the most important thing in the world. And she reminds me so much of Jen in times like this, and when I said, "I love you," she replied, "I love you too, daddy," without putting the crayon down.

It's the way that she said it that gets me. It was absently, but with the absolute understanding that I love her and that's how things are and how things should be. I love her, she loves me back.