Steven Easton

Thankful

Friday, May 3 

It just hit me that it's May. Wow.

On Friday nights, in Alabama, Ava and I usually did something to hang out, and here, I have made an effort to make it clear that if she wants to hang out with me on Friday nights, I'm here for her, but if she ditches me for her friends, I understand and usually hang out with Morgan. Tonight Ava went to Paisley's. And, yes, Ava is still mad kind of at me for taking away her phone. 

Morgan and I went to dinner tonight at Pancheros because that is something we both like, and we don't have to wait forever to get our food there. It's one of our favorite places in general because I proposed to her after we went to Pancheros one Saturday night in December. So romantic, I know. 

Tonight, we decided to see "Endgame", and... We're not going to talk about it because not all of you have seen it, and it's too complex to get into anyway, but it was amazing. I still cannot stop thinking about it. 

After "Endgame", I knew I needed to go pick up Ava from Paisley's, and Morgan wanted to come with me. Interacting with Ava's friends' parents is kind of weird for me because a lot of them are in their 40s. Paisley's parents, Adam and Pam are really nice, but they remind me of the stereotypical white suburban family. Both Adam and Pam have very good jobs and they live in a house that has to be worth over a half a million dollars. There's nothing wrong with that, but I hope Ava doesn't feel like I haven't given her enough. Don't get me wrong, we live in a much better place than we did in Alabama, but here, things are different. 

I feel better when Morgan is with me around Ava's friends because then the single-man-raising-his-niece stigma is gone. I told Ava a long time ago that there would be no sleepovers at our house unless I got married. The reason I gave her was that I can't handle more than one kid at once overnight, but I just don't want to make any girl uncomfortable, and I don't want to make her parents uncomfortable. 

When Paisley first came to our house in the fall, both of her parents wanted to know if they could stay and hang out for awhile, so I offered to make them burgers on the Big Green Egg, and we all got along just fine. I'm pretty sure I passed their test because they let Paisley come over almost every other weekend, even though Ava has made it very clear to me that she likes Paisley's house better because they have a projector.

There was a part of me that dreaded going over to their house to pick her up because I knew that I needed to tell them about how she had taken the iPod, and I decided that I was going to give it back to the parents, so they could give it back to their son if they wanted to. It was too expensive for us to keep in good conscious.

When we picked up the girls, Pam, answered the door, "Hey!" Then she looked at Morgan. "And, it's good to see you! How are you?" She put a light hand on her arm.

"Great! How are you?" 

"Good." Pam winked. "How many days until the big day?"

"50 days!"

"Wow! That's awesome! I'm happy for you guys."

"Thank you." Smiling at Morgan, I wish that those 50 days would just come a little sooner, but I also know that I have forever with her.

"We're excited," Morgan told her.

"Where are you guys going for your honeymoon?

"Alaska," we said in unison. 

"Hey, by the way," I said, pulling out the iPod awkwardly, "this is your son's, by the way. Ava said he gave it to her, but I don't think she should have it because she went on social media without asking me, and I don't think she should've taken something like this from y'all."

Giving me a confused look, she took the iPod back. "He gave it to her?"

"That was what she told me." 

"Hm, okay. I don't think he does use it very often, so I mean, I guess it makes sense." She paused. "Let me go get the girls." 

"Okay. I just thought you should know," I told her.

A few minutes later, she came back up. Ava and Paisley hadn't come back up yet, which was common because they always needed to wrap something up. "I asked Jared," Pam said, "and he said that she wanted it because he wasn't using it."

"She shouldn't have asked for that. I'm sorry." This was kind of embarrassing. "I grounded her from her phone and took the iPod away," I mumbled. 

"Why?" she whispered.

"Because I don't want her on social media unmonitored." 

"Oh!" She put a hand on my arm. "I'm sorry that we had a part in that."

"No, no." Putting a quick hand on her shoulder, I shook my head. "That's not anyone's fault. She knew the rules." 

Then all of a sudden, we heard them laughing as they trampled up the stairs.

"Morgan!" Ava scurried over, reminding me that Ava may low key like Morgan more than me because she is way cooler.

"Hey, girlie!" She wrapped her arms around Ava, melting my heart. The way she treats Ava is what Ava deserves in a woman role model. 

After Ava thanked Paisley and her mom for letting her come over, we headed on our way back home. Ava told me about how she and Paisley could not stop laughing because they were trying to not smile, but it didn't work. 

I'm thankful that we chose to come to Iowa. We're happy.