| Life is funny. | | | | hand in front of people's chests when we approach a |
| My twenty-year-old daughter, Melanie, has a her new | | | | road crossing. My friends get a bit annoyed with me, |
| summer job as a nanny for three small children. She's | | | | but old habits are hard to break |
| an aspiring operatic soprano who was whisked off to | | | | I was about thirty years old the first time I realized |
| a rich suburb near Manhattan the day after her finals | | | | how much like my own father I'd become. I got up |
| had ended at the Eastman School of Music. Her | | | | from a chair and grunted. Just like Dad. I walked |
| mother and I miss her dreadfully. Thank God for our | | | | across the floorboards with loud, heavy footfalls. Just |
| Family Talk Plan! | | | | like Dad. And I reacted to a glass of spilled juice with |
| Last night, she called home and as we discussed my | | | | the same, "Argh!" Just like Dad. |
| upcoming book signing at Borders, she called out, | | | | This parenting thing and the cycles that propel us |
| "You two need to pipe down and go to sleep! I don't | | | | through life are puzzling. For the past twenty-two |
| want to hear one more peep out of you!" | | | | years, I've defined myself as a father. It was the |
| I doubled over with laughter. The tears streamed | | | | all-encompassing label that described me. More than |
| down my cheeks. The tone and emphasis was | | | | engineer, more than husband, more than passionate |
| identical to my own words uttered night after night | | | | gardener, more than aspiring author - it fit. Life was |
| to Melanie and her twin sister, Allison, when they | | | | chauffeuring Jennifer to band practice, Allison to her |
| were little. When she came back on the phone, she | | | | dance lessons, and Melanie to play rehearsals. It was |
| joined in my laughter. | | | | helping with homework, doing mountains of laundry, |
| "You know, Dad, it's weird. I'm turning into you and | | | | and trying to cook for an army on Sundays so we'd |
| mom. I'm so strict, I'm worried all the time about | | | | have nutritious, albeit monotonous, meals all week. It |
| them! I hear you in my own voice each time I talk to | | | | meant leaving work early to make Allison's cross |
| them! And when did I learn all the lyrics to these | | | | country meets, designing tee shirts to promote the |
| Raffi songs?" | | | | school musicals, and helping Jenn find a decent car for |
| I thought about her comments as I drove past | | | | no money. |
| Wal-Mart tonight. A mom and her two teenaged | | | | Now that my girls are women and my grandsons |
| daughters walked directly in front of my van. They | | | | have arrived, I've begun to define myself as a |
| crossed the road without taking a second to check | | | | grandfather. And I like it. A lot. |
| for traffic. I couldn't relate. Not one bit. I still put my | | | | |