Father’s Day

I’m walking through our complex with Elisa to our local market where I plan to buy Elisa an ice cream and my weekly lunch supplies. Lydia is in the playground, holding court. I ask her if she wants and ice cream which wasn’t meant as a rhetorical question but of course was. She says yes and asks if her best friend Naomi can have one too. I say sure and she asks if her other friends can. I say sure. 10 minutes later Lydia is streaming back into the playground, eight ice creams bundled in her arms. She is the hero of the moment.

Earlier in the day when we got back from my Father’s day lunch it was time for Elisa to nap but she’s been having a hard time nodding off lately. In part because of the heat and in part because our ayi uses the TV to lull her to sleep with TV being a horrible way for a bear near three year old to relax. So today, like yesterday, I take Elisa to the park and today, like yesterday, she falls asleep in her stroller before we are half way there. I sit in the park with her for a while, under a shady tree, and just relax thinking about things. Thinking about nothing.

What I think mostly about is despite everything, I’m actually an ok dad. And I kind of like being a dad. Didn’t really think that either would be true at one point, but now they are. No Father’s day presents, card, or hugs need to tell me that now although they don’t hurt.