Word sponge

My first Father’s Day without a dad was a little hard to process, so I pushed it to one side and wished my ex a happy Father’s Day instead.

I accompanied the message with a clip of the eldest at 18 months old.

My mum recently gifted me her copy of a video compilation my ex made during the brief period when we filmed stuff.

(Don’t tell the youngest, but I don’t think there are any videos of her as a toddler.)

I sat on the lounge room floor yesterday and stared in wonder at my clever, chonky bubba on the TV screen.

The eldest was a word sponge who asked endless times: “what dat?”

We would supply the word for “dat” and the eldest would repeat it, then file it for future reference.

We were both dazzled and exhausted by this linguistic curiosity and skill.

The video shows the eldest sitting on my lap viewing books and naming all the items and animals in them.

At one point a bush baby was even confidently identified.

I just had to Google what a bush baby looks like …

Words were occasionally strung together as we turned the pages, such as “rabbit eating the berries.”

Anyways, that’s a long-winded, humble brag about how I spent Father’s Day. And a reminder that even if a marriage ends badly, the children it produces will always be something to celebrate together.

Well, that’s my take on it.

DD knew I was feeling a bit out of sorts and called me in the afternoon to say he’d be on my doorstep in five minutes to take me on a ferry ride.

That’s the way he rolls. Spontaneous. Whereas I went into panic mode because I was in trakkie daks with no make-up on and the dogs needed to be taken for their afternoon wee.

But it all worked out, we had a lovely ferry ride to Manly and cruised back into Circular Quay as the sun was setting.

Rewinding to Saturday, I was determined to go for a dip at the beach on the unseasonably hot spring day. DD was less keen and played lifeguard from the shore.

The water was cold but glorious, I loved it.

Then we settled onto Avalon headland with the dogs for a takeaway lunch with a spectacular view.

In the early evening we sat on his neighbour Benny’s verandah after the storm swept through and sipped a glass of 2015 French rose that his work-out buddy had left behind when he moved to another city.

I had no idea that rose had that much staying power – it was a lovely drop.

Benny made 12-hour slow-roasted brisket for dinner and DD took along his famous potato salad. Both were delicious. Then I hit the road home so I’d be ready for my Father’s Day duty shift for work.

I hope you had a good weekend. Many friends have lost their fathers this year, so I know it would have been a difficult one for them.

Sending love to everyone who missed their dad yesterday.

Song of the day: Promises “Baby it’s you”