What do you do for a living?

As most of you know Johnny is self-employed and has a limousine business. This has allowed him the privilege to be able to be the stay at home Mr. Mom while I work full time as a First Grade teacher. He works mostly on Fri. nights and Saturdays. During the week he mostly does vehicle maintenance if needed, works on the administrative & marketing side of the business and answers the phones. On top of this he also balances the responsibilities of being the primary care giver to our little ones while I am at work.

So in order for us to not pull each other's hair out and to make some extra money on the side since I have been home on maternity leave he has been driving for his dad during the week. His dad also has a limousine business but has a Hirsch in his fleet that gets used for funerals. So herein enters a funny story.

After doing a funeral in the Hirsch Johnny decides to bring it home to grab some lunch since our house was on the way to the storage. Ati is used to running errands with daddy during the week and enjoys riding in the back of limos when they need washing at the car wash. So this day Ati decides she wants to go with daddy to drop off the car at the storage. So of course daddy would love the company and I of course would love the quiet time with Maciah. So off they go. As soon as she walks out the front door she notices it is NOT a limo. She doesn't think anything about it and is okay with her new seating arrangement up in the front with daddy in the passenger seat since there is no seating in the back. Only space for a coffin. I know.....weird. I've never ridden in one cause I think it's too creepy.

So the following conversation ensues on the way to the storage.

Ati (after looking in the back): Daddy, where do the people sit?
Daddy: Ummm....people don't sit back there. A person lays back there.
Ati (her little brain wheels are churnin'): How do they lay?
Daddy: Well they are in a box. And we put the box back there.
Ati: Why are they in a box?
Daddy: Well.........(long pause) Baby, they have died and I drive them to heaven.
Ati: This car FLIES?!?!?
Daddy: No baby, this car doesn't fly.
Ati: So you drive them there.
Daddy: (At this point he just gives up and decides the conversation will have to wait for when she gets a little older to understand or just let mommy do the cleaning up.)

When they got home I was washing the dishes and Ati runs in excited to share some news with me.

Ati: MOMMY MOMMY! Guess WHAT! Daddy drives people to Heaven!!
Me: He does WHAT??......(I look over at Johnny. And all he can do is shrug his shoulders, and gives me this face like what was I supposed to say?? Not that you drive people to Heaven! I wanted to reply. But Ati looked so proud of her daddy. We had to sit her down and explain that only Jesus can take people to heaven. But daddy helps with their earthly body.

BUT......she decided driving people to heaven was a much cooler answer and has since then decided that's what he does for a living. Weeks after this episode we went to pick her up from a Mother's Day out program she attends twice a week at a local church in which we are not attenders of. Since we don't attend the church they don't really know us. When Johnny got to her little classroom for pickup the teacher approached him with a concerned look. The following conversation ensued.

Teacher: "Mr. Garcia, I must ask, what do you do for a living?"
Johnny: "Let me guess, she told you I drive people to heaven?"
Teacher: "Yes, she did."
Johnny: "well...Let me explain....."

Ohhh....Our little Ati. We have had to do lots of explaining due to her vibrant little imagination. But we have also had to explain our own little mishaps along the way. I guess her daddy shares the same "vibrant imagination" she has. Just glad he had to do the clean up at mother's day out and explain himself. As a matter of fact we have had to explain ourselves lots of times. Hey, we're not the best of parents, but we're tryin'!