Now that I’m getting on into the early reaches of middle age-dom, I find it incredibly easy to dismiss the aspirations and musing of youth…meaning my own daughters. When I don’t want my peace treaded upon, I find it tempting to exile them to the living room and the television therein. Spongebob Squarepants has given me blessed solitude a number of times.

But, the nature of children is a wonderful thing. They have that fantastic ability to shake your very foundations. As I was idly wasting time today (trying to decide if I should read Tom Jones or Prometheus Bound), my 7 year old daughter came in and began a full blown lecture on the life and times of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Seriously, she knew more about the man than I did. She wrapped up her presentation with the request that I find and play “Eine Kline Nachtmusik” (her very words).

What could I do? For the next hour we sat side by side and searched the Internet for Mozart trivia. I downloaded several pieces of music and we listened to them, together.

I love being a father.