My lovely partner and I decided to take some time for ourselves and go to one of our favorite restaurants for some quiet time. we’ve been pulled in a lot of directions with travel and helping out family members etc. so some time to ourselves was needed…
We have a favorite restaurant that we really like. When we want to have a little hustle and bustle, other people around and have activity going on, we’ll get there between six thirty and seven. It is usually an active place, but we’ve also discovered if you get there around five in the afternoon, it’s pretty quiet, so that so we did.
As we settled into our seats, I noticed a table next to us had place settings and food on it but the people weren’t there. Just a minute or two later a young girl and her dad came walking from the back area of the restaurants and sat down at the table next to us.
Having had the wonderful life experiences of a daughter and so many outings with just her and I, I’m always intrigued when I see a father and daughter out together. The way the tables were arranged and the way we were seated my beautiful partner and I were facing away from the table off to our left where the father daughter combo sat, so I had to lean forward and look to my left to catch a glimpse of this precious little girl and her daddy.
I’m guessing she was about four years old and I could hear her sweet little voice talking with her daddy since the restaurant was so quiet. The conversation at my table with my lovely was very light, nice and subdued talking about the business trip we had just been on and about the plans for next week.
We were enjoying each other’s company, talking about what we like about the restaurant and anticipating our favorite dishes being delivered, when the beautiful voice of the young girl would reach my ears. So sweet! She was asking her dad what she was eating and he told her it was edamame.
Well, that’s a little challenging for a four-year-old to pronounce. So in her sweet little voice she tried to say it over and over with the coaching of her dad, we could just hear her lovely little voice, it was beautiful.
Then the conversation with my partner would ebb and flow with whatever was next on our agenda. We were enjoying this very moment, savoring the fun we had on our travels, the conversation just kind of moving around. Then the little one next to us must have tasted something a little spicy and she told her dad her mouth hurt. He encouraged her to have a drink of water and she ended up on his lap with her arms around his neck.
I’ve been in that wonderful position enough times to know when the little one just wanted some attention and some love, some contact with her daddy. And he certainly delivered, I’d lean forward just a little bit and look to my left to get the picture in my mind of the two of them embraced quietly in this restaurant.
Our food came to the table and my lovely and I were having fun sharing mixing and matching enjoying the yummy flavors. When the little one on the table next to us had received the attention and love she needed she climbed down from her daddy’s lap to get back on her side of the table which brought her to facing us and my lovely partner looked at the little girl and smiled and the little girl smiled back and was just the beginning of a wonderful moment.
They both said hi. The little one raised up her arm and showed the treasure in her hand. It was a small mermaid from the movie, Little Mermaid. So my partner asks the name of the treasure and she is told that it is ”Arial”, and so the two of them look at Arial and proclaimed that she is indeed a mermaid and notice her colors.
The exchange was so peaceful so innocent. The innocence of this young girl sharing a treasure, her heart full of love and my partner and I relishing the beauty of the moment. The father could not know that it would have been more than wonderful to have had the little girl sit with us and tell us all about Arial but that’s not necessarily polite in our culture, so the father asked his daughter to come back and sit down, and that’s okay too.
Somehow it brought even more tenderness to our own table when our attention turned back to one another as we went on enjoying our meal, and then I would hear the voice of the little one again asking questions. They always started off with “daddy…” The sound was like music, the beautiful melody of love and trust, wonder and curiosity.
Countless times I’ve had questions directed to me that started out the same way, “daddy…”
It was time for the little one and her daddy to go, I don’t remember if she waved to goodbye or said anything . It didn’t matter we had already received our gift from the moment. The restaurant began to fill up I wouldn’t say that it lost its magic but there was something so special when the restaurant was quiet with just us and the voice of that angel talking to her daddy.
As we were finishing our wonderful meal I began to feel gratitude for the experience. And then the question came to mind. Who is more blessed? Is it a daddy out with his daughter? Is it the daughter who is so free and comfortable that she can say “daddy my mouth hurts” and walk around the table, climb up in his lap and then share her treasure with people seated next to her? Is it my lovely Princess who is given the gift of some wonderful dialogue and loving exchange with this young girl? Or is it me? I never got a chance to say anything to the girl but I did get to witness, listen and enjoy.
Or is it the one that orchestrates the coming together of love who is more blessed?