GRACE: "Hey dad, you want to play hide and seek?"
ME: Having just pulled the TV out to mark the end of a long day with Steph, and our third-wheel Tucker joining us at 8p, I'm thinking my reply to Grace will ensure the kabash: "Sure! If we keep it to the first floor. I'll find you in 5 minutes max."
GRACE: "Ok. I'll give you five minutes. And bet you $5!"
ME: "DEAL!"
I GO UPSTAIRS and give her the agreed three minutes to hide. The clock starts. Two minutes after searching "everywhere" on the first floor, including around Steph cutting Dominic's hair in the kitchen -- neither of whom saw her -- I announce aloud to Ninja Houdini Invisibility-Cloaked Grace: "There's no way you're on the first floor!!"
A moment later I get a text: "Yes I am!" Followed by "You were 2 feet away from me!"
A few more minutes of intently scouring the first floor at least three more times, I get another taunting text: "It's been 8 minutes!" followed by "You owe me $5!" followed by a Venmo request. And "You still have to find me!" A few minutes later, after looking in ridiculously impossible places such as the smallish blanket basket, and the fireplace, I did find her. Curled up in the bathroom sink cabinet.
I'M SURE THERE'S SOME self-effacing, theological message I can pull from this. Perhaps about parenting and pursuing them. Relentlessly. Willingness to go and look even in impossible, ridiculous places. And amidst merciless taunting, finding them. And discovering the difference between what you thought you knew, and what you've come to know only after the struggle. The adventure. Advent. Anticipation of real discovery. Finally really connecting. And ever-willing to pay the price. The immeasurable value of it all.
SHE'S OUR AMAZING GRACE. My baby girl. A senior. Navigating the end of one great adventure into another. Today it's more real. Today she was accepted by the college of her choice. St. John Paul the Great University. Apparently a solid-Catholic institution of higher learning with an ever-increasing reputation for excellence in creative arts and business. A very bright light in the People's Republic of California. Did I say that aloud? I'll stop there.
For now, I'll settle for being a little less wealthy and late to Tucker, a minuscule price for the timeless delight of time spent and just plain having fun with those whom I love.
"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." (1 John 4:12)
