My father might be the only one to really appreciate this new development in the life of his granddaughter. However he won’t read this blog unless I tell him to go to this site and do so because he still to this day calls me (despite my having been blogging elsewhere since November 2001) to ‘ask permission’to ‘read my blog’as if it is a teen diary complete with a lock and key.
But anyway…my entire childhood I recall my father being semi-distracted when enaged in a conversation with me. My sister and I spent a lifetime hanging on the words of half completed sentences by good ‘ole distracted Dad. A typical exchange often went like this:
Me: Dad…do you want to go to the park with me?
Dad: Sure….but first I need to…UM…UM…(long silent pause – lost in thought)
or
Me: Dad…will you ride bikes with me?
Dad: Great! Let me just…UM…UM…(long silent pause – lost in thought)
Today Lilian was hanging out by the front door. She wanted out. She was pointing to the front door yelling,
L: “THIS THIS! BYE BYE! THIS!”
I said, “You want to go bye bye? Ok. But first I need to…UM…UM” (long silent pause – lost in thought)
And what did she do? She totally busted me.
There was a silent pause and then she said in the EXACT same tone…
L: UM…UM…
It burst my distracted bubble. I cracked a smile and so did she.
Mallary, what an aaznimg piece of writing! You have so many talents and I am inspired by your honesty and courage to share something so personal. I came across this by following the link you posted on facebook. Do you remember the hundreds of letters we wrote to each other back in the day?! Those really kept me going…in fact, I have a bunch stored in a box under my bed still! Hope you’re doing well…please keep in touch