The sweetest thing ever

Andrew here just to share something that happened over the past weekend that I don't ever want to forget. 

Last Sunday, 5/31/2015, we celebrated our good friends' daughter's birthday.  Ian and Ashly threw a Laboratory Birthday for Blayne who turned 8 earlier in May.  And if you know the Millers, I really mean that Ashly did all the real work and Ian concocted some crazy stuff for the kids to do.

One of the "experiments" that Ian developed was designed to teach the kids about fire or gas or something or other. I don't really know as I was doing what parents of the non-birthday kid are supposed to do at a kids party.  I was in the living room watching the baseball game.   Meanwhile he was explaining the experiment to 20 kids ranging in age from 4 to 10.

As it was kind of quiet in the living room, I decided to check out what was happening in the garage with the party.  I immediately knew something was up when I opened the garage door.  Ian saw me walk outside and his eyes lit up.  "Andy, just the guy I need.  Please come help with this experiment," he shouted as all 40 little eyeballs turned towards me.  I couldn't say no now.

I didn't know what I was getting into as I slowly sauntered up to the front of the makeshift classroom garage.  At this point, I looked over and saw a bubbling cauldron with some sort of soapy liquid inside.  No worries there.  As he began to speak, I noticed the propane tank with blow torch attachment.  Yes, I said propane tank with blow torch attachment!

My thoughts were jumping between "I wonder what he was doing with that" to "I bet the kids are gonna love the fire experiment" to "OMG I am standing next to Ian and he has a blow torch."

I vaguely heard him say something about how jealous he is about my hair being so luscious and thick as he removed his ball cap to show the very few strands of hair that he has left on the top of his shiny melon.  I thought, "yes, my hair is nice, where is he going with this?"  He grabbed some of the soapy liquid and put it on top of my hair.  He quickly grabbed the propane torch before I could move or realize what was happening. The crowd oohhed and aaahhhed as they watched my hair go up in giant fire ball.  It was then that I, along with everyone else in the garage was overcome by the smell of burnt hair.  The fire went out very quickly as the soapy liquid was actually the result of pumping propane through a tube into a bucket of soapy water.  The propane "bubbles" burn very rapidly, but not before they had singed my hair creating the noxious vapors.  The kids were all abuzz about the flame and I was still trying to process what had just transpired as I rubbed my head and got a handful of burnt ends. 

The leader of the experiment asked me to stick out my hand to show off the experiment again, this time without burning my hair off.  I stuck out my hand as he filled it with soapy liquid, then held the torch up to it.  The result was an impressive fireball that burned out in less than one second.  I thought to myself, "This is pretty cool," but little did I know it would lead to one of the sweetest moments in my life.

Please keep in mind that these fire experiments are being performed in front of 20 kids under the age of 10.  As Ian poured another ladle of bubbles into my hand to set on fire, from the back of the room, I saw Kate get up.  She didn't run.  She wasn't crying.  She wasn't yelling.  She was very calm.  She navigated her way through the tables very intently.  Without saying a word, she reached up and grabbed my hand.  Pulling me away from Ian, she never took her eyes off mine.  She was leading her Daddy to safety and nothing was going to stop her.  As I noted, she was not hysterical or theatrical in any way.  I could tell she was frightened but also determined to get me out of there.  I had no choice but to give in and let her lead me away.  It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen.

Afterwards, I sat down with her and explained that Uncle Ian would never do anything to harm me, and that the experiments were all in fun; I was never in any danger.   I hugged her and told her not to worry, Daddy wasn't hurt and that I appreciated her leading me to safety.  We then walked over to Uncle Ian and he said he was sorry for scaring Katie.  As she scurried away to play with the other kids and eat some birthday cake, Ian leans over and says "Didn't realize that it would burn your hair so much.  That was pretty cool wasn't it?"  Good thing my kid's birthday is coming up.  I might just need a volunteer.....