Wednesday, May 10, 2006

I remember my dad taking me out for lunch....

When I was in grade school, once in awhile my dad would come into town, pick me up from school and take me to the Three Hills Inn Restaurant for lunch. I would always order a grilled cheese sandwich, and he would always order an open denver sandwich. We would eat our sandwiches and joke about things and drink our respective drinks, coffee for him and root beer for me. He always had me back to school in time for my next class.

These little meals together were casual, rare enough to be a treat, yet often enough to produce a feeling of "special" in my little girl heart. You see, I did not know if Dad did this with my other sisters. He never told me. As far as I knew, I was Dad's favorite daughter, the only one important enough to merit a lunch-time treat.

Years later I was talking with my mother, and I mentioned how special those dinners made me feel. Mom laughed. "I had to tell him to take you girls out now and then, he never would have thought of it. But he was always good to do it once I told him to."

The dinners weren't his idea? He took my other sisters, too? I had to change the subject, for I found that even though I was a grown-up, all of a sudden I felt like crying like a little girl.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh honey, that's terrible! It doesn't keep your dad from loving you just as much as ever, it sounded like he loved spending time with you, even if the ideas weren't his....a lot of men don't think of things like that, more from there minds not thinking that way, but it doesn't mean they don't care as much, just that they would never consider how important it was...

Paula said...

No worries, Kim! This blog is about recording memories, and I was merely recording how hearing that made me feel at that moment. I know me dad luvs me.

Christopher Newton said...

It's amazing what we guys don't think of. I was just like your Dad and probably still am. But, like him, I'm smart enough to listen when Patrushka makes those little suggestions. Makes life a lot richer - without them, I'll just be out wandering around somewhere like we guys tend to do.
I love the picture of you and your Dad having a little tete-a-tete over coffee and root beer. I wonder what you talked about. From a Dad's perspective, those are some of life's best moments.

Paula said...

I wonder what we talked about, too. I'm fairly sure that we talked about cars and hockey, as those are Dad's two favorite subjects...but I don't remember the little details!

Spoke said...

Some of my favorite times have been spent with the Puppet. I fondly remember playing in ditches full of water with her in Vancouver...and here in our mucky back lane. She is my second best buddy right after PJ. I pray I never forget to make enough time for her. I think I'm on schedule....HA

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you don't think your dad doesn't love you. To me, it just seems like it must be something hard to remember, even if you know you are loved..the image of you standing there, eyes moist, just gave me instant "Hug Paula!" vibe...

Lisa said...

My dad used to take each of us out for "private time" once every few weeks. There were 6 of us, so this was special to have time alone with Dad.

Cameltrooper said...

Some of my fondest memories of childhood were the lunches my dad would take me out to.

Kirstie said...

I loved it when the pondering pig or patrushka would take me out one on one as a little girl. Every year at least once I would have a special day with the pondering pig where we'd do somthing big- usually go into New York City and I could pick out what we'd do. It usually involved the New York Public library, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Natural History Museum... those were great days.