Dear Dad,
she’ll be nine
tomorrow
and I think I’m in denial
I just
keep busy
with things to do
pretty soon I won’t be able to pick her up
any
more
when I tell her this
and I tell her this all the time
she just laughs and says I’d better start lifting heavier weights
yesterday, I walked into the kitchen
and she’d already put up the decorations on the cabinet doors
when I asked how she did it
‘cause I didn’t see a chair
she demonstrated by jumping up in the air with a fly swatter
she had smacked each giant pre-taped water drop to each cabinet with the fly swatter
she looked at me like I should have known that
I get that look a lot
since March, she’s been on this owning-her-own-gift-shop-kick
so, tomorrow she’s gonna sell her wares to the party people
she’s made pottery, necklaces, bracelets, bookmarks, flowers, Legos, a mess
her artwork is priceless
I’ve already bought two sketches and two bookmarks and a Lego record player
she made me sit still for a self-portrait yesterday and let me have it for free
I actually like it, minus the fat face
she’s awake now
so, ‘ya know what that means
yeah, I’ll tell her
TL