Looking good as my daughter heads into summer

/ May 30, 2015

My terrific daughter Elisabeth had enough time to spare to meet me for breakfast before heading into work at the orthopedic complex in Hamilton.

That made leaving at 7:30 a.m. for the 40-or-so mile drive southeast from Syracuse well worth my while.

Looking good at 8:30 a.m.

Say no cheese with that omelette.

We agreed on the big joint on the main drag less than a mile from where she lives with her mom, and she was sitting in her Malibu waiting when I pulled in on the dot.

A couple weeks out from the end of her first year back in college so she can receive New York state certification to become a physical therapist assistant, and all is well, said Elisabeth as we waited for her omelet and my eggs-over-easy.

In fact, taking the classes out of the equation with her administrative job at Hamilton Orthopedics & Sports Medicine has made her life a little easier, she admitted. Two semesters and two internships left before she’s done at Onondaga Community College. The final internship, next summer, is set at Oneida Medical Center. She’s attempting to get the earlier winter internship OK’d for Hamilton, so she doesn’t have to drive so far in possible snowy conditions.

We moved on to excitedly discuss our next major event, an end-of-July trip with boyfriend George Three and my dear wife Karen that includes air travel.

Soon the food had come and gone and we were back at our cars in the parking lot.

An ussie in Hamilton.

An ‘ussie’ in Hamilton.

Hug. Kiss on the top of her head. That’s our thing developed over time, what my 25-year-old still offers and I will always take.

And I was off just a couple more miles south, to the pictureque Seven Oaks Golf Course, to meet KP and Tater for our third and final coupon round. That post comes tomorrow.

What comfortable routine have you established with a parent or child? Where do you best like to grab quick time with them? What’s the next big plan you have with them?

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83 thoughts on “Looking good as my daughter heads into summer”

  1. You don’t really think there’s much of a chance of snowy conditions in upstate New York next year do you? I would think they’d have used it all up the past couple of years. 🙂

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  4. what a wonderful ‘usie.’ you have such a great relationship and i’m excited for her future. i talk to my girls and sometimes the littles even, on the phone often throughout the week, and we try to see each other each week whenever possible. it keeps our connection strong. so excited for the aussies to be moving back this summer, it is my dream to have them all here )

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  7. What’s better than a daughter + a diner? NOTHING. That’s what. They recently closed the local diner where I’d been taking my two daughters since they were old enough to sit up in a booth. Christ, what heartbreak. Over a stupid building! But heartbreak, nonetheless.

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    • They took away the pen before you finished writing the damn book is what they did, Mark, when they closed that diner. No wonder the heartbreak. This place here has become Elisabeth and I’s go-to place in this port of her adult hometown shuttle, and it’s a good one.

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      • Oh, I know! I’ve hit the ground running this summer. Work has been busy. We were in DC last weekend. Two sets of community garden hours the weeks before. Today, we are planning trips to Quebec City (including a camping trip), Charleston and Tehran. We are also looking for tickets for my mom to come out on July 4. Heading to a Shanghai Mermaid party in a couple of hours and dinner to cook in between. I’m breathless.

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      • I love how you just throw Tehran into the middle of your breathless mix, Wormy. Be well, enjoy, say hi to your family for me, and know that I miss you.

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      • Well, dear northerner, Quebec City is almost as exotic as far as I’m concerned. 😉 Also, thank you for your kind words. I miss you all too! I plan to be around. Last week just didn’t happen. We were running around like mad in D.C., and I was working on the train coming and going. Also, Dex (a.k.a. Beaker) has been ill; my husband and I both had to take time off this week to take care of him. These last two weeks have been crazy.

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      • Quebec City is sort of … French. Beaker is sick? I don’t like hearing that, Wormy. Tell him Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle wishes him well. Doggie Power sticking together.

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  11. It looks like you and your daughter had a great time. I love being with my daughters. Our younger daughter is living with us now during the week for her teaching job, but she goes home to her fiance on weekends. They’re getting married this summer, so I guess that’s our next big plan! 🙂

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  14. It’s great that you two make time for each other 😉 Great photos. I hope the plan for not having far to drive come winter works out.

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  16. Our son goes to school in Florida, so we don’t often see him.
    It’s a delicate balance with adult children, being helpful and not meddling too much. Last he was here we enjoyed drinking with him 🙂 Haha! We sampled beers and whiskeys and had a wonderful time.
    He surprised us both by saying he misses Indiana, and hopes one day a job will bring him here. Until then, we’ll take what we can get.
    Our daughter also lives far, and has started a family. I’d like very much to see her over the summer, but I’m still waiting for HR to approve The Mister’s vacation request. *sad face* His schooling will resume in the Fall, and there will be no time until this time next year AGAIN.

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    • HR better approve that request so you can go see your daughter and family, Joey. If not, I think you should go solo. Just saying. I don’t want to think of that sad face for a whole year, my friend.

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  18. I have some routines which involve dropping by if it has been more than a week to see the ‘grandies,’ and texting to my brothers weekly, too. If I have not written my Mom two letters during the week, one on Sunday or Monday and the other on Tuesday or Wednesday, I call her. But she loves the snail mail best. She gets a little flustered and worried if I call, Mark.
    Our little (Spanish) toasting ritual with our daily little juice glass of Sangria is always started by my Mom. When I leave, we both get teary-eyed and say, after kissing each other and hugging each other, “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

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  19. How sweet Mark! My daughter and parents live far enough away that there is no regular routine. This post makes me think that I should try to develop some sort of routine, otherwise days turn into weeks with my daughter and months turn into year with my folks. Thanks for the nudge this morning! ❤
    Diana xo

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  21. Congrats on raising a successful daughter Mark, as a father myself I can only imagine the pride beaming from you every time you see her or hear about her latest rounds of achievement in the medical field. Thumbs up from Indiana!

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  23. I’m so impressed that she is so together at that age. When I was 25 I was playing in a rock band and didn’t know what I was going to do if I didn’t make it as a rock star. I’m still wondering. Where’s the big trip? I’m sure we will see many pictures.

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  26. Your daughter looks SO much like you! 😀
    And I don’t know if it’s a big plan or anything, but I’m going back to Mumbai where I actually live day after tomorrow. It’ll be a road trip of over 10 hours with my family. So there’ll be a lot of bonding. And fighting – with my brother.

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  28. My favorite thing about this post is the term “ussie.” I admire your daughter for knowing what she wants to be and heading toward it in such an organized, hard-working fashion. My family doesn’t have any routines. We like to say we usually don’t know what we’re doing till we do it. I add, and sometimes we’re not sure till after we’ve done it.

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    • Thanks for this great comment, Cynthia. I worry so much about what we’ve left for this generation in general and because of the personal, burned by my layoff from the big daily after nearly 30 years there. So I’m glad she’s set out this plan and is working so hard for it in a field I feel will last.

      By the way, piecing together your history from MVG — military service, moving from the North Country to Georgia back to here — the way you write for the magazine and the blog and the novel and act in community theater and keep the day job and make Steven and Tabby happy every day, that’s one hell of a successful execution of a plan.

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      • Ah but there never was a plan. Like most of my runs, I just set out and turn hither and tither as the mood takes me. I used to feel that I had wasted my life by not having a plan, but as I get older I realize that playing it by ear is who I am and what I do. And I have managed to have a pretty good time along the way. In fact I’m looking forward to the next turn I take. Hope you’re having a great weekend.

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  29. Good Morning to you, Mark. Such a great pic for a proud papa, just lovely. I’ve gone to great extremes to spend time with my daughter…one just last December involved a 5 hour bus ride with grandmothers taking their babies to see Dr. Seuss on Broadway. I tagged along at my sister-in-law’s invitation, was not interested in Dr. Seuss, but took the bus trip just to spend a few hours with my daughter in NYC during the holiday madness of Manhattan. The things we do….☺ Van

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    • Sometimes the small print is irrelevant, Van, as you say, but the big picture remains forever. That trip to Broadway will stick with everybody, Dr. Seuss be damned! A day well spent, my friend. Good for you.

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      • Thanks , Mark. ☺ Parental props to you for driving so many miles for those over- easy’s; no one takes that bond for granted; it speaks volumes. Thanks also for the use of the word “ussie”… that’s the first I’ve heard it.

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  30. That sounds like a lot of fun Mark and the fact that you could get a round of golf in with the visit was even better. I’m an only child and my Mum is in Vancouver, so I don’t get to visit.

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    • Yes, Paul, it was a big day for me. I am lucky that Elisabeth comes this way because of her life, too, so the visits are fairly frequent. Also, I’m fortunate that she doesn’t mind me taking her photo and writing about our visits here to make points about the evolution of parental and adult child relationships. 🙂

      By the way, has your relationship with your Mum thawed any since your guest post here last year? Readers, put Mum into my search bar to read Paul’s revealing guest essay. And, be ready for his touching guest post here on Father’s Day as he writes as only he can about memories of his dad.

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