Child Mine

(From left to right: Lil' Sis, Older-younger Bro, Younger-younger Bro, Mom, Daddy, Big Sis and me)

This afternoon was spent with my parents and youngest sibling. While Squidette and Little Squid played in the pool, the adults chatted about a wide variety of topics, from the necessity of Lil' Sis wearing pantyhose while teaching her sample lesson (Yes kiddo, suck it up and just wear them! 2 hours in hose in the heat will NOT kill you!) to my father's difficulty printing same sisters story. (A tale for another day.)

Somewhere over the course of those 4 hours my dad called Squidette "Puss." Now Puss is an endearment that my father has used on both of my sisters and myself over the years and I found it charming that he now uses it on his granddaughter.

Just a short while ago I found myself using another fatherly endearment on the same child. "Child mine," I said, "put this away (handing her some laundry)."

Which started me thinking ... the expression "child mine" is one I have heard probably thousands of times over the years as my father used in on anyone of his five children. It seems only fitting that I make a public acknowledgment of the origin of this phrase on Father's Day.

Somethings just get better as they get passed though the generations.

So from my family to yours, and to my Daddy ... Happy Father's Day.

And as for that child of mine ... she turns 15 in just a few hours. Watch out world!