Saturday, November 23, 2013

Tag Team Champions

This weekend's Trifextra challenge is to come up with something that uses one certain word three times in the story.  All three times, the word must be used in the same form and so on.   I have chosen one of my favourite words, Daddy.   I waited what seemed like lifetime to hear it (I was 42 when my first loved was born.)  I still love hearing my girls call me Daddy and, most of the time, they use the term lovingly. However, the potential for for misuse and manipulation is great, as my story will illustrate.



Tag Team Champions

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Sweetie?"

"I love you, Daddy!"

"Thanks, Sweetheart. I love you, too!"


"Honey?"

"Yes, Dear?"

"She has to finish her homework before she goes shopping."


"Daddy!!!"

One storms off.

Two smile.

Parenting.









25 comments:

  1. If you listen carefully to the background of my audio track, you can hear my four year old daughter, Sophie, mucking about. Parenting! What can I tell ya! :)

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  2. Great 33 words, Tom! Parenting is definitely the most difficult, yet joy filled gig on earth. This was sweet, and it was so fun to listen to as well!

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  3. Love the element of subtle humour here. The little girl sounds adorable :)

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    1. The little girl IS adorable.....some of the time!!! :) Thanks for your kind words. I appreciate them a lot.

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  4. So very true. Great word choice, Tom! It also applies to mommy. ;)

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    1. If I was a MOMMY then, MOMMY would have definitely been my word of choice. But, since I am a Daddy and not a MOMMY then, I had to use what I could.
      See what I did?! 33 words with Mommy instead of Daddy. :) Lol.

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  5. Haha. This is cute! It seems like lately "Mom" is a nasty word in our house (where'd the love go? :))

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    1. As I type this comment, I am ignoring a bitter argument between the girls about who is going to put the Christmas books away on the shelf and who is going to wait for their turn. My "team" has hit the wall. Where is the Love, indeed!? :)

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  6. Aha!Conspiracy?;-)Loved this sweet take Tom and missed you and your writing!Hope you and your and family-including the lil ones at school, are all doing well :-)

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    1. Thanks for asking about everyone, including the school kiddies. Everyone is fine at home, thank you. At school, it is a different matter. Lots of things going on this year....emotionally, behaviourally, programme-wise, etc., because of the school closing down, that have never been part of our typical school year. On a positive note, a music-oriented Arts group modelled after the very successful El Sistema (sp.?) model from Venezuela has set up camp and are helping turn my little kiddies into a choir of angels. A group of non-denominational churches have come together and have set up breakfast, tutoring and mentoring programmes to get them established now so they'll be fully-functioning by the time school ends and the staff and I leave. So, these are all positive developments. However, on the downside, parents are starting to become anxious about the move and, as a result, I had a lot of very emotional, heartfelt interviews recently when we sent home the first term report card assessment. Usually at these interviews, parents ask how they can help their child to be a better reader or speller or whatever but, this time, they talked about how much our little school has meant to their lives, how much they appreciated the teachers here and the care we gave to their children for the six hours we had them in our care and what is to become of their child in such a new, bigger school so far away from their community. Anyway, I could go on and on talking about this. It is a very different school year and we are only one-quarter of the way through. I imagine that, as we get closer and closer to the end, it's going to get really weird. It's already becoming weird. I feel the weight of the responsibility that is being placed upon us by the community, to shepherd everyone through this "scary" transition. Lots of hand-holding going on. I'll endeavour to keep folks updated. Thank you for your interest, Atreyee. I appreciate it very much.

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    2. Here is a link for those interested in the El Sistema programme, whose purpose is to rescue children out of dire poverty through music and the Arts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Sistema

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  7. Missed being here, too. Glad to be back....a little bit, anyway. :)

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  8. Great writing... and it was totally like a recording out of real life.

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    1. Thanks, Bjorn! Once I heard the recording, I knew it was perfect for this post. Glad you liked it. :)

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  9. Four years old? Oh, she hasn't even warmed up yet, 'Daddy'!!! Good luck to you.
    Sweet post, Tom, and loved the audio, too.
    And, hey!

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    1. I don't want to know the future, Kymm. They'll both be my little girls forever and ever, right!? :)

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  10. Heh. I've got two boys, but I'm sure there's something equally exasperating coming down the pike. :)

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    1. We have many friends who have boys and it appears to be the same crap, different specifics but, the same crap, just the same. Wouldn't trade it for the world, though. Continued good luck with your boys. Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it. :)

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  11. LOL! Oh, I love this. Parents everywhere are nodding. How quickly the tide can turn with our little angels. Well done!

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  12. Thanks, Ivy. Some experiences are universal, aren't they? :)

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