To Unfreeze In The Future

Saturday night, twenty years past.

I was on the couch filling time in the cave when my daughter Mary came down to join me. Mary was eight years old. I was watching the re-run of a classic basketball game on ESPN. The North Carolina State Wolfpack was playing the University of Maryland Terrapins. One of the players for NC state (Tom Burleson) was 7 foot four inches in height.

I explained to Mary that with his height and reach, Burleson could  stand on his tiptoes, stretch himself to the fullest and drop the ball into the basket. Look how tall he is. I don't know how tall Mary thought that I was but I'm pretty sure it was a lot taller than I am.

Mary said, "that's not fair."

I left the game on for a few minutes to see if Burleson would do something outrageous. The Terrapins had the lead and although I expected them to get blown away at any second they kept surviving. Whenever the Terrapins scored, Mary raised her little fist and yelled "yes".

Nothing in our prior relationship had prepared me for any kind of entusiasm much less advocacy for basketball coming from Mary. Earlier in the day, she and I had been shopping for Pokemon cards. We passed a Disney store where Mary pointed out  a Lion King book like the one we had at home. She had read that book a dozen times in her room yet waved at in the store as if it were a friend. I waved at the book myself.

But now, we were back home cheering at the teevee set upset over the unfair advantage of Burleson. Mary continued to be wonderfully absorbed with and attentive to the game. I was enjoying an unexpected moment of father/daughter bonding. I was preparing to explain the zone defense, double dribbling, the layup or some other bit of trivial arcania when Mary (thank God) asked a question.

"Dad, is there really a place called Mary Land?"

I had to laugh as I realized innocent source of her unexpected interest in the game. She wasn't cheering for Maryland....she was cheering for Mary Land against a Giant from a place called Carolina.

"Of course, there's a place called Mary Land, honey. All the girls in Mary Land are named Mary. Everybody collects Pokemon cards and reads The Lion King."  

She knew I was kidding. 

Her Mom called her for bedtime.

She gave me a hug. She went upstairs.

After the game ended, I went upstairs and snuck into Mary's room where she was fast asleep. I noticed the Pokemon cards and Lion King book on the floor next to her bed I hoped she was dreaming of Mary Land, the place where innocent girls pass through the storm of adolescence and emerge as resourceful, wise, independent women who will stand up to giants if needed It's the world and all that's in it Mary and you will reach Mary Land before we know it, my little girl.

I wanted to freeze frame that moment before the storms and pass it on for her to unfreeze someday when I'm gone and she needs a memory of her Dad to get her past the next hurdle. That day is going to come.

So Yes honey there is and will be a Mary Land and Dad is and will there too, forever.