You Changed My Life Kid.

Val arrived at my apartment. With what she liked to call her shopping shoes on. They were her favorite sneakers, very comfortable and easy to walk in.

“Okay, let me see what you need.” I handed her the list that was in the folder. She looked it over and told me that she knew where to get everything.

Before she came and we were on the phone I told her she was now an aunt to a two year old. She was excited and she agreed that it would be best that I spent a few days with my daughter before introducing her to the guys. She agreed to come over and help me go shopping since I didn’t know what half the stuff on the list was.

“This will be easy Zack don’t worry.” She said. I nodded.

She drove to one store. I was scared to walk in. It was a child‘s store, it had furniture and toys and clothes everything you‘d need for a little kid.

When we walked in there was a woman standing near a counter. Val grabbed me by the wrist and we met half way.

“How many I help you?” the woman asked sweetly.

“Yes, umm, I need…” I looked at Val for some help. She pointed to things on the list. As I told the woman she nodded.

“Lets start with the bed and other thing you’ll need for the child’s room. Are you buying for a girl or boy?” she asked.

“Girl.” Val and I said in unison.

“Okay, this way.” I followed and listened but Val made most of the decisions after explaining them to me. You’d probably think that I wanted to go cheap, but even I could tell that the cheap stuff could killer her. So I did the right thing and got the best for the right price.

At the end of the trip we had most of the things on the list. I wasn’t upset about the shopping or the amount of money I spent it was the simple fact that the list still wasn’t finished. At least the items left on the list could be found at one more place.

At the grocery store, Val showed me that on the list there was a side note of food that Leila couldn’t eat so she showed me what to look out for. That was easy. That was something I could remember.

We went back to my place and put everything away, I washed the new little dish set I got my daughter. The set consisted of a small plate, a big plate, a bowel, cup, spoon and fork. They had flowers on them. When I placed them in the dish washer I had to laugh because it was the only color compared to my other dishes. Her set was pink and my dishes were either black or glass.

The next morning I greeted the gentlemen who would be moving my daughters new furniture into my spare room. I spent the night before cleaning it out. I only used it for storage, and everything that was in it was now boxed up and either sitting in the storage locker I have or in the living waiting to go.

I spent most of the afternoon putting the furniture together after returning from bring the last few boxes to storage. It was mostly all easy to put together but there were a few things that I almost took a finger off with or lost my temper on, but once it was all together and arranged and the things I had gotten for her were put away it looked great. She had a chest of drawers that would hold her clothes, a bed that Val had gotten a purple and pink bed set for, a toy box that matched the chest of drawers. Now all I had to do was wait until the next day because that was when Mr. O’Shea was bring Ophelia.

I paced back and forth between my own bedroom and hers that night. I was starting to feel nervous about having such a young child in my apartment. She was at the age where she was into exploring and putting things in her mouth and touching. I was afraid that she might get hurt. This just made me reinsure to keep an eye on her.

Once in bed and relaxed a little I picked up the picture I had gotten from the worker the day before. Val put it in a frame for me. I smiled down at it and felt a little more nervous but a little more confident. I knew I could do this. I knew that it’d be hard at first but we’d both survive.

The next morning I awoke late. I awoke to knocking at my front door. Jumping out of bed I rushed down the small hall to the door. When I opened it Mr. O’Shea stood there with a little girl next to him holding his hand.