Friday, April 17, 2009

The world through the eyes of Beth

Now that I finally finished my dissertation, the world I have denied is coming back. One of my first goals was to restart the Parent/Child dating night, where Su or I take one of the children out do to what they are interested in. I sat down with each child to discuss what their goals and interests were starting with the oldest. I almost decided to skip Beth since I wasn't so sure that she would have any opinion. Boy was I wrong.

Dad: So Beth, what is something you really want to do?
Beth: I want to throw meat to a lion.
Dad: Did you say "throw meat to a lion"?
Beth: Yes. I want to throw meat to a lion.
Dad: Hmmm. Maybe we can arrange .... that. Anything else?
Beth: I want Jesus to help me to go to sleep.
Dad: In person?
Beth: Yes.
Dad: Well, we talk to him in our prayers and I know he is watching over you while you sleep.
Beth: Yeah.
Dad: These are both quite difficult, but we will see what we can do. Any other ideas?
Beth: Ummm. I want to be healthy, do ballet, do hair ties and build a house out of bricks.
Dad: A real house?
Beth: Yeah.
Dad: Okay. This is good. We should all work on being healthy and we can definitely look into ballet. I'm not sure what doing hair ties is, but I know mom or Angela would love to do that with you. I'll look into the brick thing.
Beth: I love you dad.
Dad: I love you Beth.

8 comments:

Janine said...

I want to throw meat to a lion too! That sounds like an interesting day!

Brian said...

I vote we shoot for something at the LA zoo in early June. With all this new time on your hands, Tom, you can call and check on this. I think there should be a ground rule first, though, that siblings are not included in the "meat" category.

And by the way, the Word Verification for this message--the one I'm forced to type in--is "poeybar".

LisAway said...

I didn't know you'd finished, Tom! Congratulations!!!

I cannot believe that girl. I'm tempted to think that her dad embellished this conversation a tad, but I know that can't be true. What a smartie and a cutie and a silly sweet goose! (Beth, not Tom.)

twd said...

I'm with Beth and Janine. Now that I think about it, I'd like to do all of those things too--even wish I could take big leaps like Valery Panov and wish I still had enough hair to tie back.

Angela Draper said...

What an adorable girl! I'm interested to hear the report from the first daddy-daughter date :)

Anne said...

You have GOT to be kidding me!!!????!!! ROFL

gramalee said...

:) !!!! no boundaries for this girl!
DC is good but San Diego is the gold standard for Zoos and I don't think it would upstage the wedding too much. :)
Congratulations! especially on the daddy role but also the PhD.!

Linda said...

This is going to be the entertaining little story at the start of my next talk...the sky is not even the limit with our Beth.

Oh my, she is an original: her singing even as a baby girl, her big ideas and dreams as a 3 year old.

Grandpa Gordon would be pleased. He would say, "That girl, she has quite the imagination!!"

She also has a very wise Daddy. Kudos to you Tommy for being such a great listener, and letting sweet Beth go on speaking her mind in such a precious way. That little talk will remain a treasure.