Father's Day

Maya asked me today if I would help her build a bird house for Russell. My first thought was, "I don't feel like making a bird house!" I decided that saying yes would be the right thing to do, regardless. I say to her, "Maya, I have no idea how to make a bird house...." She replies, "Mama, I have picured it in my head. I know what to do." She runs away to the other side of the garage to pick through the scrap wood pile.
At this moment, I realize that I don't know how to run a power saw. I don't think I have ever even touched one, except to move it out of my way in the garage. I feel a little hopeless. Do I just do it, and learn it as I go? Immediately I picture severed fingers and decide against this.
Russell happens to come out of the house at this point. I quickly give him the rundown without telling him what the project actually is....he smiles and says, "I would rather if you girls didn't try to do this on your own." Maya comes running out from the side of the house and freezes when she sees Russell. He goes inside, like he doesn't notice that she can't look at him and is smirking uncontrollably.
I plead, "Maya, unfortunately we need Russell to make this work. Can you just explain to him what you want cut, without telling him what it is for? " She struggles with her answer, trying to figure out how NOT to involve him and comes to the same conclusion....we NEED him to build this bird house. So she goes inside, into the kitchen, and says, "Russell, I want to build you something for Father's Day but I can't do it unless you cut me the pieces." What she doesn't realize in this moment and maybe he doesn't realize it either, is that this is the best Father's Day gift. Showing him how much we need him!!

She brought him all the wood and he cut it all, just how she wanted it. She screwed them all together with a screw gun, her little brow furrowed in concentration. And she built the perfect birdhouse.