Life + Shaving + PDA = Church

Austin shaves everyday.  If he doesn't he gets scruffy, and as much as I love the facial scruff, Austin insists upon looking professional for school, and church.  His skin gets very irritated from this constant abuse.  I know shave friendly skin is on the top of Austin's imaginary wish list.  To illustrate:  This last weekend my sister Haley brought home a boy (Ethan) she has been dating.  It was a big family get together so we all met at my parents.  We all pulled up together and Haley's very friendly date came and introduced himself.  As he and Austin shook hands Austin said, "Its nice to meet you, you have great skin for shaving don't you?"  

(pause)  

"Uh, Yeah, I do."  

"I bet you can shave everyday with no skin problems at all."  

"Yep, I can." 

"Oh wow, that's great."

 There you have it...Ethan meet Austin :)

As we were leaving I said, "I thought Ethan was really nice, I really liked him.  What did you think?"

"Oh yeah, he was really nice, man he has great skin, he can shave everyday no problem, no irritation, no redness.  My dad has skin like that, hasn't ever had any trouble.  Oh that would be so nice!"

So if Haley is wondering how the Thorpes felt about Ethan:  it was 2 thumbs up from us.

Austin does not do PDA (public displays of affection).  He will hold my hand when its convenient (it is not convenient to hold hands when it is over crowded,  when walking through a door, or when passing more than one person on the sidewalk), but kissing in public is quite painful and too much touching usually results in the "OK" response as explained in the last paragraph here.  

For my sister Kate's wedding we are singing a song in which Austin is required to dip and kiss me.  This will be performed at the wedding luncheon in front of quite a few guests.  We were practicing with my family and I asked if he was mentally prepared to kiss me in front of so many people.

"Why would I have a problem with that?"

I was slightly caught of guard by that response, so I posed a group question to justify my obviously appropriate question,  "Everyone, why would Austin have a problem kissing me in front of all those people!? 

 **Some comments from the peanut gallery and then Austin...

"Oh, this is stage acting Nicole, its not real honey.  Its fine."

I think next time we go on a date we will pretend we are in a play, apparently Austin takes his stage characters very seriously.  Why didn't I think of this before?

Austin is always cautious with Calvin, he is mindful of the ever present threat of spit up, drool, and diaper overflow.  Church is an especially sensitive location, as Austin is wearing a nice suit.  He cringes when its his turn to change Calvin or feed him.  He is sure to cover himself well with a cloth when he holds Bubba.  So far he has managed to avoid incident (which is quite miraculous).  Last week it was his turn to feed Calvin.  When church was over and I saw him I noticed that his shoes were covered in a thin film of white powder.  "What did you get on your shoes?"

He related the following:

I went into the bathroom to make the bottle.  I opened the formula and when I went to peel back the foil seal it exploded.  Not just a little bit, like ALL over me!  In my hair, down my front, all over my face, and obviously on my shoes!  I mean I had to shake my hair out!  It was a mess.  

I chuckled and made a mental note to rent that DVD in the afterlife.