Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Time With Daughter

She called on Sunday night. She was crying. She missed me. Mrs_C said she should call me. Daughter later told me Mrs_C had tried to maneuver daughter to lay a guilt trip on me - you know "Tell him you miss him and if he were living here you wouldn't have to miss him"

Even my 10 year old daughter saw through that one...

On Monday I made arrangements for her to come over to my place for supper. Son was out with his cousins at the beach.

I have her in various summer camps at the university (drama, dance, choral) - so after work I went and picked her up. We went for drinks (tonic water and lime - make it a little weird and adult in taste so they remember it [heh]) at a cool restaurant/bar downtown. I was going to pick up a little Vietnamese food at the place next door, but it was closed. We instead trooped off to a dingy chinese/oriental grocery store over in our chinatown that I like (Mrs_C hates it... messy, a little worn, a little dingy). We looked at weird chinese food stuff for awhile (like going to a museum or such) and then picked out some dim sum bits for supper.

We steamed the dumplings and sticky rice with pork in lotus leaves, and I lightly painted the vegetarian spring rolls with oil and baked them in the toaster oven. Man, that worked slick on the spring rolls!!! Fast and no hassle - no deep frying either (a good thing since I'm on a low fat diet).

She ate and ate and ate.

She said Mrs_C had been criticising her for eating too much. I told her that was rubbish. If she eats the right things - healthy things - and stays active she should eat as much as she wants - she's a growing girl.

I don't need Mrs_C's eating and food pathology passed on to my children.

We finished eating, left the dishes and cuddled up on the couch to watch some TV for an hour or so - cartoon channel. We talked about this and that. It was happy and it was peaceful. It was very close.

I walked her to the house - about 7 minutes away. She was happy.

6 comments:

terry said...

aww, sounds like a date with your daughter! not in an icky, creepy way... but special alone time that she'll always remember.

awwwwww. sweet.

Mouthy Girl said...

My sis said it best.

You're creating wonderful memories and new rituals with your daughter. You and she will treasure them.

*sniffle*

Your description of your evening made me think of my Daddy. He would always plan something special when I was home from college or visiting after I started teaching.

He made breakfast for Lil Sis every MORNING for years after she was married. She lived down the street from my parents and got to break bread with him each morning before work. Priceless stuff.

Anonymous said...

thank u for visiting blog..even if it only incidentally happened..anyway, glad that you r making times with your daughter..she must be very happy having u as her daddy...

Big Pissy said...

That's so sweet!
I'm so glad that you and your daughter are able to spend time alone together.

She'll always remember times like that.

southern peach said...

Okay, I gotta catch up on stuff her for a minute...first and foremost I am so proud of you for having the strength and courage to leave and try to move on with your life. Way to step out there with asking the co-worker out. I always like to think that if something is meant to be it'll still be there when things are more settled with you. Kudos to the time with the kids, especially the night with your daughter. It made me want to run home to see my own daddy :) Keep it up, Cadbury!

ohc said...

What great memories...she is fortunate to have such a caring dad!

Good times!

Lil Sis and BG are so right!

Hugs!