Great Dad

So, today is Hayden's birthday! (Where did the past 8 years go??) As a surprise, Cletus took the morning off of work and he, Kate, and I went to have lunch with Hayden at school. Hayden got to choose 2 friends to come and sit with us at a separate table. We were talking and visiting with the kids, and Cletus was attracting more and more students over to our table to visit with us, to practice his Spanish, and to learn all of the names of the kids in Hayden's class. They LOVED the attention. Hayden's best friend looked at Hayden and said, "You've got a good dad". Then Hayden said, referring to his friend, "he doesn't have a dad". His friend told me that his dad is in prison, that he did some "bad stuff" and that they kicked him out of the house. I thought about how I was feeling guilty for making a cake mix in a 13x9 pan for Hayden's birthday, how I'm just not that creative when it comes to birthdays and celebrating, etc. How all of us give ourselves guilt trips. But when I listened to Hayden and his friend talking at lunch today, I realized that I did one pretty important thing right. Hayden has a great dad who loves him, plays with him, teaches him, sets a good example for him, holds the priesthood, wrestles every day when he gets home from work ... The other little things like a boring cake don't seem so important. I get to give my kids a great dad for their birthday.