The Adult Daughter: A Total Treat

A few weeks ago, Tim and I got a phone call from Sophie: “I haven’t been back to Alaska in a while. I’d like to book a flight for a visit.”

Delirium! Not only was she initiating a visit – INITIATING a visit – but she was booking it herself. She’s arriving today!

And recently, we’ve been getting phone calls. Phone calls! Sophie has been at her job one year now. She loves it, but she’s discovering the world of work. And she solicits my advice!

Ironically, one of her calls came just as we were hosting a freshman send-off for kids going to college. Later, I found this on my computer – the story of Sophie’s departure – and it still triggers tears.

Much of what she tells us is like a message from another world. (She does, after all, work for a company with an onsite chef preparing their meals; she did work recently in their London and Berlin offices.) This is not the employment world Tim and I know.

And she wanted our advice!

My father used to say the only thing he wanted from his children was naches. That’s Yiddish for “pride.” I hated naches. I felt like it made demands on us to achieve, to produce. Whenever he was proud of me and talked about naches, I’d blow up. I vowed I would never expect naches. Let Sophie be whatever she wanted to be, however she wanted to be it.

But to be wanted for advice! Ooh, that feels good.

And this advice giving is a two-way street. Right off the bat, Sophie told me that if I bought underpants cut lower than my jeans, they wouldn’t stick out the top.

Love moments in our Third Third. Maybe we did something right.