Musings at Altitude

When I walked into my room to begin packing for this latest trip, my 14 year old daughter was sitting on the chair watching TV and our conversation went something like this:

Her:  Will you go get me some lunch?

Me:  No.  You can get it yourself.

Her:  But I can’t right now.

Me:  Why?

Her:  Because I have sunburn.  And, the dog is laying on me.  And, I only got seven hours of sleep last night and I’m tired.

Me:  Get up and get it yourself.

I consider myself a very kind, caring, considerate, and serving father, and if she had relentlessly kept asking me to get her some food, I would have caved.  Fortunately my wife walked in just before that point and took over the response to the excuse making and allowed me to focus on my job at hand of packing.

But quickly, here is the rest of the story.  She’s sunburned because 3 of her good friends and her went to the pool for a few hours yesterday.  She’s tired (how in the world can you be tired with 7 hours of sleep) because she went to a sleepover with another friend last night.  She had the dog on her for no more than a few seconds before she used that as an excuse as to why she couldn’t get up.  And the kicker – she was in the kitchen while my wife and I ate lunch right before she wandered into the bedroom and begged us to get lunch for her.  It would have been fairly easy to ask then when it was convenient for us, but that would violate one of the primary rules of the 14 year old – wait till things are inconvenient and then pressure dad to death to give in and get you something.

I must admit that I am just a bit “wrapped around the little finger” by the 14 year old.  But I’d argue that it’s no more so than with her older sister, and even with her older brother though he’d argue profusely with me.   Each of my kids have me wrapped in their own ways, and isn’t that what a father is for?  Even more so with a father that is traveling as much as I am?  Just seems natural to me!  But even I have limits – like today – even with a sunburn, and only 7 hours of sleep and a dog on her lap!