The scene: The four of us (Me, Wife, Daughter, Dog) are walking around the neighborhood, 6 month old daughter slung to me, dog on his leash. As we pass by the house of a family we don’t know, an adolescent girl hangs out a front window, holding the screen to said window. Her father is in the front yard walking toward her.
Adolescent Girl: I dunno, it just fell out.
Dad: You know why it falls out, don’t you?
Girl: No, why?
Dad: Because you girls bent the crap out of it sneaking out at night.
Girl (protesting): We don’t sneak out… (conversation fades as we pass the house and continue down the street)
I look down at my six month old daughter, innocently sucking on her fingers and drinking in the sights and sounds of the neighborhood around her. Hmmm…
Makes a dad stop in his tracks and think back to when his 20-something year old girls were that young. The things they said and did that made you want to just flip out. Then you stop and think about who you were at that age and you relive a part of your life you wish you could experience again. Mistakes, errors in judgements, the fun and the pains, they are all called memories. Isn’t it going to be fun to laugh and smile about the stories you will be telling them about their youth? Makes a man proud to be (their) her daddy.