Father's Day 2008

Jeff has often lamented that Alison doesn't like him as much as she likes me, and he routinely claims that she listens to his direction as often as her mother does. (Translation: not at all.)

He would have been proud, though, to hear her description of some chewing gum that Karin Ogden had given her the other day. She demanded that I try it, but couldn't wait for me to discover the taste sensation on my own.

She cocked her head, chewed a little bit on her own gum and without meaning to, gave a dead-on impression of her father.

"It starts out a little minty, but then it finishes with a, well, um, a bubbly flavor just like bubble gum," she said.

It finishes? Chewing gum can finish?!? I just cracked up.

***

Then, on the way to her last T-ball game of the season, I think she did irreparable damage to Jeff Reed's heart. The last game of the year is a parents vs. kids game. I was advising her to get prepared to lose. I told her we were going to smoke them and I was hoping she would cry about losing.

"Well, who cares who wins, Mom? I'll still be your daughter and we'll still all live together in our house," she said. "Winning isn't that important. It's only fun to win if you have fun when you're playing."

Now I'm totally fine with that attitude. Jeff, who can't play Crazy 8s without devising and implementing a strategy to win, choked up a little bit.

"But Alison, the whole reason you play the game is to win," he protested.

"Da-ad. Winning isn't everything," retorted the sage from the backseat.

To his credit, Jeff just held his tongue. He may have been fighting back tears. I'm not altogether sure.

His Father's Day improved with a visit to the Talbot Street Art Fair where we ran into some great friends and then his big pile of grill-related holiday booty.

If you need one more piece of Father's Day, you won't be sorry to read this piece from my friend Bob Johnson.

Hope you all had a great day!