A Peach

Category: By Christian
If you don't know my daughter Elli, you should get to know her. She's a peach. I was totally sweating our cross-country trip together, but she did just fine. I should have given her more credit going into our trip, because she has never ceased to amaze me. She thrives, she surprises, she amazes. She made for a wonderful weekend.

The timing of our jaunt could not have been more interesting. Tomorrow will be one year to the day that Elli joined our family. Hanging out with her in a hotel all weekend took me back to those three weeks we got to spend with her in Vietnam, and gave me a lot of time to reflect on this first year of fatherhood. And as Elli is currently in her "mamma's girl" phase, it was also a great chance for us to bond. I can honestly say that right now we are getting more mutual joy from being around each other than at any point during the past year. While Vietnam was great in that we got to love Elli for three straight weeks, I'm not sure she really knew what to do with all of that affection. Actually, it was a little overwhelming for her. But we're good now.

We were driving home from the hospital tonight after having had dinner with Stacy (there's nothing quite like celebrating Labor Day with a 30-hour shift in a hospital that has no free beds), and I had to stop and get gas. When I went around to fill up, Elli saw me and beamed. Then we waved at each other and played a quick game of peek-a-boo, and then I finally got around to filling my car with gas. And it was pretty much one of the best parts of my day. That and taking turns drawing pictures on the magnadoodle for a half hour on the airplane. Both were very fun.

So today was about me reaffirming that I love being a parent. Which is good, because I get to be one for a long time to come.

Fair Dinkum
 

1 comment so far.

  1. marko 12:11 AM
    what a fantastic post, christian

Something to say?