The Po Show

The Reason We're Here

Happy Father's Day.

We spent ours eating at Bubby's in Brooklyn, then walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. The kids staged a revolt on the other side and clamored for a subway ride in lieu of walking back across. Once back on the Brooklyn side, we got caught in a massive downpour, huddled under an awning for several minutes, then walked back to the car. Tessa shuffled her feet through the streams of water and had a lovely time (her right foot suddenly didn't hurt anymore, despite being excruciating on the walk over the bridge).

We came home and Tessa put on a Flower Festival for us, with handmade paper masks for herself and her Lil Kinz bunny, Minny. They did a song and dance number, and then Ross and I had to throw the paper flowers that Tessa had made for us, for that express purpose. It was hilariously adorable. (I thought the highlight was her "public announcements," made into a plastic microphone, that warned us that taking pictures during the performance was not allowed.)

As we were discussing what to have for Father's Day dinner, Ross remarked that we should incorporate the kids into the decision, since, as he said, "They're why we're here."

And they are. Not why we're here in this house, or this town, or this state, but why we're at this place in our lives. They changed everything, and they made us what we are today.

They made Ross into the father he is today, a lot more patient a human being, a lot more out of his own head and present in the now. He wasn't even in the *room* when Matthew was conceived (but instead was out in the waiting room while his "washed" sperm was splooshed through my cervix), but he has been with them, every step of the way, as Daddy, now Dad.

Happy Father's Day, to my favorite dad.