And with that they were out the door.

As usual, she ran to the car, and verbalized her victory upon touching the driver’s side passenger door–her door.  He simply shook his head and said, “Yep.  Looks like you beat me again.”  He opened his door, placed everything in the car and started it.  Then he opened her door and put her in her car seat.

Getting back into the driver’s seat, he backed the car out of the garage.  Next, he put the car in park and got out.  The recent week of sub-freezing temperatures took their toll on the garage door opener, so he was forced to use more than just his finger muscles to open and close the garage.  In a jiff, he was back in the car and they were on their way.

At the daycare, he grabbed her nap stuff from the front seat and told her she could start unbuckling and get out.  Like always, she seemed to not hear this command, and he was at her door before she could comply.  She happily dropped down to the cement, and reminded him about the dangers of walking on ice.

Leaving her with the teacher, he walked out of the building briskly.  He had time, but never liked the feeling of being rushed.  There was something rewarding about getting to work early enough to be able to sit in the car for a moment before going in.

He pulled into the parking garage, and turned off the car.  Reaching for his lunch, he nearly jumped.

“MOTHER EFFER!” he shouted.  “GOD DANG IT!  I know I grabbed it this morning.”

His mind raced to figure out what he would eat for lunch now that he had discovered he left his on the counter.

Walking past the passenger door, his peripheral vision picked up on a grocery sack which looked awfully similar to the ones he packed his lunches in.  Turning for confirmation, a shudder of relief almost knocked him off his feet.

“I knew I didn’t forget it,” he said, impressed at his ability to believe a lie.