My Goddaughter is 8 years old. She is witty and pretty and smart and sometimes smells like farts.
She will love that rhyme….
Anyway, I love her. I used to see her like every other day when her and my sister lived at my parents house. But I see her less now that they do not live there now. It could be a few weeks even sometimes, which is an eternity after we saw each other so many times in years past. With all this new freedom and time I have as I mentioned before with one daughter away at college and the other living her life as a 17 year old I have made it a point to make sure I get to see my Maya Grace a bit more. She’s now over almost every Thursday. We do dinner or just hang. When my youngest daughter is around she is so good to her cousin. Always driving her around for ice cream or just a silly ride to listen to some music.
I love Maya for many reasons, but a big one is a get to run my Dad jokes or get to be silly and she laughs, sometimes with me, but mostly at me. My own kids have outgrow my humor by now. She always has a new joke when we see each other. We are always trying to make each other laugh.
She takes dancing in a studio just like both my kids did. She super good at it and very into it. I love when I see her and she shows me whatever of her recital dance she has learned so far. I know her recital songs and dances by heart way way before the show gets here because I have seen it somewhere between 75 and 100 times before the show. And, I love love love that. My oldest daughter used to want a dance to be a surprise to everyone, but especially to her Mom because it was a gift to her. They both know dance, with my wife, her Mom, doing it since she was like 4 years old. My oldest daughter loves that connection. But, it means that while she is working on choreography or trying to master a step or move I got to see it as it was made. I got to see the final product before everyone else. I loved that she included me in the process.
I got to share the stage with each of my kids for what the studio calls something like “My special person and me”. All the Dad’s and Grandpa’s or Moms got to learn a special dance with their little dancer and perform it at the recital. I got a chance to do with both my kids. And, I highly recommend it. I have two left feet. I can’t dance. I have zero rhythm. But, we had a great time learning the dances and bonding over it and I got to be in their worlds. I think they look at it and hopefully smile just as I do.
So, this year I decided that if my God daughter wasn’t signed up I would ask her to do it with me. Her Dad works and didn’t think he could make rehearsal so I figured I would love to do it. I still can’t dance and I will be embarrassed on that stage. But, Maya will be smiling. We will get to share to share a few rehearsal hours at the studio and a million more after at my house running it over and over and over again until Maya isn’t embarrassed to have me as her partner.
Or, at least that is what I thought….
After the first rehearsal learning the dance we headed home to practice a bit and show my wife and youngest daughter the song and the first couple 8 counts my little Maya asked me if my Meghan will be home for the recital in June. I tell her of course she will be there and that college gets over before then. She says good cause I want her to do the dance with me. I was a little taken a back and then she said “no offense Uncle Marky but I need a professional dancer up there with me”… You little shit!
Just before the next rehearsal I ask her if she is SURE she wants her cousin to dance with her instead of Uncle Marky she says “yeah, you sweat before we are even starting dancing”… My heart is broken, my dream of dancing with her on stage and creating a forever memory is gone, and then she looks at me and says….
“Boom, ROASTED!…. BOOM, ROASSSSTTTTEEEEEEEED!!!. That’s how you use that Uncle Marky right? Boom, ROASTED?” to which I answer “Yes, Maya that is exactly how you use that phrase”.
Maya has won this battle. Maya wins most every battle by now, but if you read anything I write you know who is actually winning….
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