A threesome

I recently had the opportunity to spend time up at Tahoe with my father, and with Thing 2.

We had an amazing trip on many levels, and for many reasons.

Thing 2 just adores my father. They are both active and adventurous. He is patient with her and teaches her things, like the Mendelson family snort. (My very smart husband is keeping quiet about his thoughts on her new skill.)

My father is an incredible man. I had an idyllic childhood and my parents have been married for 44 years now. Yet as the years pass I feel we have less and less to talk about. It's not that I don't want to talk to him, it's just that my life revolves around my kids, Dave and technobabble. And he's done with the childrearing and technobabble part of his life. His big activity these days is his horses and while I enjoy riding, it's hard for me to carve out three hours to do so with him.

So this Tahoe sojourn was really a treat. We both ski and Thing 2 skis well enough to ski with us. (Okay, she actually skis better than me now. Faster definitely. I had no idea how key the bright yellow outfit would be when I bought it. I rely on it to spot her when I finally catch up with her at the bottom of the runs.) Anyway, the two of them skied together much more than I skied with them. There was two feet of fresh snow, blue skies, no wind and temps in the 40s: ski perfection. We enjoyed breakfasts in, dinners out and laughs over silly things. My dad and I had six hours of talk time in the car, and he was a good sport when we detoured to one of our favorite girly stores en route home.

My father is very different when he's not with my mother, and Thing 2 is very different when she's not with her sisters. What a pleasure!

How lucky were we?!