I am printing this poem without permission. I am sorry, it is just too good not to repeat.

When I read this, I thought of the day that my dad took me to the Bronx Zoo. I was about 8 or 9. Just me. No sisters, no brother. We stopped at his precinct on the way home, to pick up his pay check-I think. That was all we did, zoo and work. It was the best day ever. Thanks Dad.

Un Bel Di by Gerald Locklin

Because my daughter's eighth-grade teachers

Are having what is called an "in-service day,"

Which means, in fact, an out-of-service day,

She is spending this Friday home with me,

So I get up in time to take us,

On this summery day in March,

For a light lunch at a legendary café

Near the Yacht Marina.

Then we feed some ducks before catching

The cheap early-bird showing of

My Cousin Vinny, at which we share a

Dessert of a box of Milk Duds large

Enough to last us the entire show.

Afterwards we drive to a shoe-store to

Get her the Birkenstocks she's been coveting,

But they're out of her size in green; we leave

An order and stop for dinner at Norm Calvin's

Texas-style hole-in-the-wall barbeque rib factory.

When we get home I am smart enough

To downplay to my wife what a good day

We have had on our own.

Later, saying

Goodnight to my little girl,

Already much taller than her mother,

I say, "days like today are the favorite

Days of my life," and she knows

It is true.

Recital Anxiety

Hilde has her first violin concert next week. We both realized today that I am way more anxious than she is. I am worrying about all the details. Where is the rehearsal? Will it be odd because she is a home school kid playing in a Christian school’s concert? She has never played with a group of kids, will she be okay?

Hilde is not worrying. She has her music down, her teacher will be leading part of it and well she never gets nervous. I mean she really never gets nervous. She is my laid back, go with the flow girl. She prepares and she gets ready but she doesn’t over analyze. So, as we are driving away from the lesson and I am asking her for the fifth time if she is ready and she is rolling her eyes at me; I realize I am more asking more for me, than her.
I am not laid back and go with the flow. I tend to hyper focus and hyper analyze. My style is not helping anyone. Since I can’t talk Hilde into worrying, I figured I would be quiet for once and let her handle this; she seems to be doing pretty well on her own.