Ode To Dad – Inspired Memories From A Loving Daughter

I love trips on the New York subway – without fail at least one of the hundreds of faces that pass through my gaze as I travel will catch my eye and make me smile.  Today, running some errands at around 5:30pm, I saw a business man on his way home from work.  He was dressed in a suit, dress shoes, and carrying a briefcase in his right hand.  Oh, and he had a Baby Bjorn strapped on over the suit, in which his baby girl was happily perched, doing exactly what I was doing – people watching, and delighting in what she saw.  Her father, his briefcase and business suit obviously forgotten, amusing himself by tickling her feet, and planting kisses on her forehead.

I now find myself at home, and inspired to write something, a tribute to dads.  We live in an increasingly gender-equal society; dads of today are ever more involved in their children’s lives.  It’s a wonderful thing.  I have countless fond memories of time spent with my dad, and so many things to thank him for.  Let me share a couple…

Our inside jokes.  They are hilarious to the two of us, and completely nonsensical to everyone else.  I can only imagine how several family dinners that erupted into uncontrolled laughter must have driven my mom nuts…here’s one of my favorites:

 The scene:  Dinner is finished, and we are all indulging in a truffle from a box of mixed chocolates for dessert.

 Me:  (Biting into a chocolate) “Hey look, I got a hazelnut.  What did you get, Dad?”

 Dad:  (Biting into his chocolate.  Thick caramel from inside oozes out, and forms into a beak-like shape protruding from the chocolate shell)  “Look – I got an eagle.” 

Our nature hikes.   We would look for animal tracks, interesting plants and flowers, mosses, try to identify the bird calls we heard.  I was often charged with the task of correctly identifying five different trees before we went home.  Most exciting for me, we would look for evidence of black bears.  The closest we ever came to finding one was our discovery of a large flat rock in the forest that had been overturned, possibly in a search for bugs (i.e. dinner).  My Dad instilled in me a love of nature, and showed me the peace that can be found simply walking in the woods.  (Several years ago, jogging in the woods at Tanglewood one morning, I did encounter a black bear grazing at the edge of the path I was on.  I backed away slowly, and left it to have its breakfast in peace; but who did I call first to tell about my exciting encounter?)

Our duets.  My Dad plays the piano quite well; I’ve played the violin since I was four, and now play professionally.  We have been coming up with our own renditions of such classic tunes as “Summertime”, “Autumn Leaves”, and “Moon River” since I learned to read music.   At first, I would play the melody of the tune we were working on, and he would improvise over me.  When I got a little older, and a little more competent on my instrument, I started improvising too.  We once recorded several of our duos onto a cassette that, to this day, sits at home next to the stereo in the kitchen (and I will venture to guess that it still gets played from time to time!) 

Our road trips.  Once a week to and from the youth orchestra I played in from the time I was eleven, an hour away from our house.  These drives were a chance to chat, play guessing games, come up with silly stories about things we passed, talk about my school day, his work day, or just be silent and listen to some nice music.   A couple of times, during the fall or winter, when the trip home was made in the dark, we pulled over to check out a harvest moon, or look for constellations, or watch northern lights blanket the sky.

Here’s to all the great dads out there, and all the wonderful experiences and memories you give to your children.  I look forward every day to the next time I will get to hang out with my Dad – and I am already enjoying watching the magic he is working in his newest role:  Grandpa!

Images:  Sarah Pratt