Who's The Daddy: From soft play to the high seas - watching my daughter turn 24
When this column started in October 2006, Daughter #2 had just started school. On Sunday she’s 24.
If you’ll excuse me, I need to sit down for a minute - there’s a sudden whooshing sound and everything’s gone a bit grey and woozy.
It’s been an absolute pleasure hosting her two-month shore leave from working on cruise ships around the Caribbean, before she sets sail at the end of next month for a summer of fun sailing to Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Denmark and a fjord fiesta around Norway.
Working abroad for the past two years has given her experiences most of us can only dream of, and it has made her an expert problem solver and incredibly resilient. Standing on your own two feet thousands of miles from home for months on end can do that for you.
Birthday parties for a cast of thousands in soft play areas in the Noughties have been replaced by celebratory afternoons and nights “out out” in Manchester - followed by a few days of sunshine in Benners (that’s Benidorm now, apparently).
Now me and The Boss are empty nesters - the fact that both our adult daughters struck out on their own the first chance they got means we either did an absolutely brilliant job or a terrible one - having Daughter #2 back home for a couple of months twice a year is magical. If nothing else, it gives us someone else to talk to instead of gawping at the boozy dinner tantrums of Married At First Sight Australia night after night.
On the other side of the coin, it’s also a free break for Daughter #2. As she says, unlike many of her shipmates, there’s no rent, mortgage or even storage costs to fund. We love having her home, and even our occasionally stand-offish sighthound Walter crawls into her lap on the sofa after a hard day of two walks and lazing in his bed in the sunshine.
On her last tour of duty, Daughter #2 worked just under 150 days straight. It’s little wonder then that she has a “Rancho Relaxo” attitude for a couple of months when she’s back home under our roof.
And she’s a fantastic person to be around, a calming influence wherever she goes. Maybe it’s because for the last two years she has spent her days on the high seas catering for the whims of American tourists and breathing the warm, sweet air of the most beautiful places on Earth.
Compared to that, a few weeks in lovely Lancaster - where if someone raises their voice in a pub it makes the paper - is an oasis of calm.
Anyway, happy birthday, Sweet Pea. Have a phenomenal day - and week in the sun.
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