Marissa's Daddy Day

Marissa shares an afternoon with her father.

Walking around the house while the kids were at school makes the house feel larger, emptier. The only noise is from Rosa folding the children's clothes in the laundry room. Heading upstairs to go snooping through my children's rooms, I start to clean out all the old toys that they no longer play with before they get home. Once I'm done with all the rooms I take the bag of toys down to the Man-Van where I'll drop them off to the Pediatric Oncology Department at the Tulane Medical Center.

A quick check of the time tells me that Marissa is about to get out of school. I call Rosa into the living room and tell her my plans for my little princess and ask if she would pick up NJ from school for me. After getting everything arranged with Rosa, I jump in the Man-Van and head out to pick up Marissa from school.

As I pulled up in front of the school I notice Marissa standing off to the side talking with a group of young girls. She was easy to spot with her blue dress, cowboy boots, and that bright yellow owl backpack. As I start walking over to her one of her friends points behind her, looking back and seeing her daddy walking up Marissa starts running towards me, her arms outstretched over her head Marissa launches herself at me.

Catching her by the wrist I pulled her up to my eyes level and asked how my little monkey is doing? Carrying her back to the Man-Van I get Marissa buckled in and ask how she would like to hang out with her daddy today.

Once the squealing died down I called Amanda and let her know that Marissa and I would be spending the afternoon together but we would be home for dinner. Putting my phone away I inform my little cowgirl what I have planned for today, I leave out telling her about the movie, I want that to be a pleasant surprise. This will be the first time it has been just the two of us alone for an afternoon.

Our first destination was the zoo where we spent time looking over the primates exhibit and the big cats. Our last stop in the zoo was to go look at all the baby animals in the nursery. After the zoo we piled in the Man-Van and headed for the movie theater. As we pulled up in front of the theater I ask Marissa what she wants to see, she decides that she wants to see the Peabody and Sherman movie. After we get the tickets we walked up to the concession stand where she orders a small popcorn and I get a large fruit punch for us to share.

Periodically during the movie I would check to make sure that Marissa was still awake. As soon as the movie ended I picked up my little munchkin, ask her if she had a good time and if she was ready for dinner. While bouncing up and down in my arms she tells me it was the best day ever. Making our way out of the theater I pulled out my phone and call Amanda to see if she wanted Chinese for dinner.

Once I have all the food in the Man-van and Marissa securely belted in, we start back home. Thinking back over the course of the day a smile spreads across my face, today was a very good day, I got to spend some real quality time with my little angel, knowing that in a few years I will not be cool enough for her to hang out with.

Pulling up to the house I gather all the food and follow Marissa in and begin our evening with the rest of the family over dinner.