a night to remember...

Last week, I took Kami and Aly on a Daddy date. Heidi took Taylor to a birthday party for one of her friends...it was her first one. You could tell she was swollen with pride that finally she had a birthday party to attend without her two obnoxious sisters. She came home with candy and more stories than her mouth could move fast enough to tell. It was cute.

As she ate candy, played games and enjoyed the borderline baby talk of toddlers, I took the other two out for dinner. Kami said she wanted to go to a restaurant with "servants"...I told her that our culture liked to call them waiters and waitresses, but she cared very little about political correctness. Just then, an idea ran through my mind. I asked them if they wanted to get dressed up all fancy like we were going to a ball. Their eyes widened with glee and before I could say "Bipity, bopity, boo", they were upstairs picking out dresses to wear. I told them I would dress in my finest apparel as well. This was going to be a night to remember.

I got home from work and they were already dressed to the hilt. Heidi had done up their hair with hairspray and the whole bit. They looked like porcelain dolls. They dragged me upstairs to change my clothes. Aly asked me if I would get that stuff off my face like I do when I go out with mommy. I told her they're called "whiskers". She said, "Yeah, the whiskers...get them off." Kami then asked me to wear the cologne that I wear when I go on dates with Heidi. They love the smell of Nautica. I splashed it on my neck and they asked me to bend down so they could take it in. Kami smelled it and grabbed my leg and gave it a bear hug...her face tightened with the delight of a thousand fairies. Though it didn't go with the outfits they were wearing, they started jumping and carrying on like a couple of deranged lunatics. But quickly they regained their composure and moved toward the downstairs with restrained euphoria.

We got in the car and started heading to the big city for dinner. Kami wanted to go to Applebees; Aly couldn't have cared less just so long as the place where we went was filled with people that would gaze upon her beauty. We hadn't so much as left our driveway when Aly said to me, "Daddy, you look kinda handsome." I grabbed her hand and held it tightly.

It was a rainy night, so I told them that when we got to the restaurant, I would get close to the door and carry them in one at a time. They obliged. When I got them in out of the rain, I parked the car and ran to meet them in then entryway. We walked into the restaurant hand in hand and the minute we crossed the threshold, the hosts and hostesses just doted all over us. They asked if there was a daddy/daughter dance and Kami said, "No, we are on a Daddy date." They giggled and told their fellow employees to come and see. It was on the brink of embarrassing, but the girls were soaking it in like sponges. The hostess told us to follow her and we cut through the restaurant all the way to the back. This meant that everyone sitting at their tables was given the unique privilege of seeing us make our way to our seats. People were waving and smiling and offering words of blessing and merriment. People were tapping each others shoulders and pointing. I felt like I was walking my daughters down the aisle for their weddings...it was crazy!

We got to our seats and ordered our drinks. They wanted the kind of special glasses that people have when they are having fancy dinners...wine glasses to be exact. I asked the "servant" if that was possible and she shook her head, "Sorry, they have to be 21." I laughed and asked again if it would be ok if they just had juice in them. She again encouraged me to think about the way it would look to others if two little girls were sporting wine glasses with "juice" in them. I guess I never thought about it quite like that. She did get us glasses and put a little cocktail straw in them with a bunch of cherries. That was good enough to put the girls on cloud nine.

Our waitress treated them like royalty. She kept asking if she could get them something else and regularly asked them if they wanted refills. Every time she would leave the table, every time, they would say, "Its fun to have a servant. Dad, could we get a servant at our house?" I promply told them about the civil war and the blood that was shed to abolish that sort of thing. They didn't get it. Too many Disney movies.

We got a dessert and shared it. We devoured it like ravenous wolves. They had ice cream covering their beautiful faces...dripping off their chins. It was befitting in a sort of ironic way. Little girls aren't ever as beautiful as when they are unfettered from the rigidity of customs. When they throw their hair back and gnaw on an ear of corn. When they run outside without their shoes on and come back with black dirt in between their toes and under their toe nails. When they run through sprinklers and lean back on the tire swing. This is when a girl is at her best.

When I cleaned them up, we made our way home. I opened the doors for them and we listened to our "Journey" cd on the way home. There's just something about the love songs of Journey that makes my heart melt. I held their hands and we talked about the fun we had all the way to our house. What an evening.

Dates with daughters are essential to forming and forging their feminine soul. Dates with daughters are essential to forming and forging my masculine soul. I don't think they understand that I need them as much as they do. There's something about spending time with them that keeps something young inside me. Something that was never meant to grow old. My heart.

Comments

Nick Nye said…
Those dates are not to far off for me! I hope I'm as good of a dad as you are brother. If you haven't seen pictures of our little girl- go to...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70263365@N00/
Amy said…
Mmmm...you have the 3 luckiest and most beautiful daughters! I'd hate to be a guy taking them out on a date in their teenage years, no one will ever match up to "daddy"!

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