When I was writing the marriage series, Ryan peeked over my shoulder and said, “Are you going to tell them about how you all welcome me home??”
I hadn’t thought of that as part of our marriage per se, but Ryan said it’s his favorite part of the day; he said it makes him feel like a million bucks.
So, here’s what we do: Every evening, when the door opens between 5:30 and 6 p.m., we RUN. Really! We race to Ryan and hug him and say, “Welcome Home!”
It all started years ago when my mom encouraged us girls to welcome our dad home from work. No matter what we were doing when he walked in the door, we got up, gave him a hug, and said hello.
So, when Vivienne was born, I’d carry her with me to the door to greet Ryan.
Then, when she was walking, I staged some “practice runs” minutes before Ryan got home. “Let’s pretend I’m Daddy; when I come through the door, run and give me a big hug!”
Because the habit was so well in place by the time Lia came along, I’ve never had to do any more training!
Of course, as the girls got a little bigger, the racing just happened naturally… and now, the guy gets plowed over with love and enthusiasm.
I was thinking about how Ryan’s love for a happy and personal greeting is not unique. Don’t we all love a warm hello? (Maybe not the racing thing, but a smile and a twinkle-in-the-eye are always nice.)
Children love to learn these types of skills. Let’s teach them how to always look up and acknowledge when another person walks into a room. Let’s teach them how to greet mommy! (I’ve trained our girls to smile and say “good-morning, Mom!”) Let’s teach them how to greet daddy. In doing so, they’ll be treating others as they themselves like to be treated.
Around here, we’re still working on a consistent friendly greeting for people at church, the library, the grocery store, and other out-and-abouts, but as long as we’re making one special guy’s day, I’d say we’re off to a pretty good start.
