With Tiffany and I working at the same business, scheduling conflicts can make providing a “normal” home life for a four year old girl challenging.

Nine times out of 10, it works just fine. The one time it doesn’t, we wind up with Lizzie at after hour events or her spending the evening at work.

Such was the case last week. A meeting in Birmingham required Tiffany to be out of town for three days. This left Lizzie and I to our own devices. Lizzie’s not your typical four year old. She’s pretty solid.

She survived multiple drives hundreds of miles during our move to Demopolis and three months of hotel life with little more than a whimper. I think she handled it better than I did.

Nevertheless, it’s rare that Lizzie and I get to spend that much time together unsupervised. There’s a time for being a dad and there’s a time for having fun and when you finally have an evening where there’s no mom worrying about the cleanliness of her living room, it’s time for fun.

From the pillow fights and wrestling matches I somehow always lose to the puzzles I’ve put together 400 times, our three days together was quite fun. A steady diet of macaroni and cheese and hamburgers may not be what a dietician would prescribe but a few days of father/daughter bonding was just what the doctor ordered.

When Tiffany returned home Thursday night, the living room looked like Lizzie’s toy basket had exploded – actually it just flipped over. Pots and pans once neatly tucked away under the kitchen counter were scattered on the kitchen floor – those were really good hiding places for hide and seek.

With the exception of Lizzie locking my cell phone and truck keys in a room to which I didn’t have a key, I would say this week was a total success.

I now know more about the Little Mermaid than I ever thought possible and I know that in the event of an unexpected wrestling match with someone four or five times her size, Lizzie can hold her own.

Jason Cannon is the publisher of the Demopolis Times.