The First Date

I see a lot of dates where I work:  handsome young couples on first dates; sloppily-dressed young couples on their 365^th date; old couples still holding hands after 40 years on their dates. But the ones that always make me smile are the dates between a father and his daughter.  These dates manifest itself in many ways:  sometimes it ends up looking like a food fight; sometimes they are frantically doing the puzzles in our colouring books; sometimes he is wadding up huge amounts of napkins to wipe the tears from her eyes.

One day, an older well-dressed gentleman in his sixties walks in to our restaurant and says that he needs a table for 2.  Great, I seat him and tell him that when his date gets there, I will send her down.  After about 15 minutes, a woman of 40 walks in and says that she is meeting her father.  I send her down, he stands up to greet her and gives her a hug. 

She says, “Aww, dad, you got all dressed up for me?”

“Of course, always.” He replies, sheepishly.

They sit down and for an hour, he sits enraptured by her stories of her work and how she is not sure about what she wants to do with her life, about her daughter and how fantastic she is doing in school, and about her husband and how he’s looking for a new job.  I see in his eyes, regardless of the fact that she is a middle-aged woman who has her own family and husband and life, that she is his little girl.

As a child, my father and I rarely had alone time, let alone “dates”.  He was always working, but as a little girl he was a superhero to me.  His hands could always fix anything.  His imagination could create anything. His music and stories could always make me smile.  He was always my safe place.  And now as a grown woman I start to see that his hands are old from working; he has all these dreams and ideas that he is racing against time to fulfill; and sometimes his guitar is out of tune when he sings.  But he is still my safe place.  And no matter how old I get, I will see him as my superhero. 

I think it’s my turn to take my father out on a date.