Marlie & Me

Today marks my daughter's 15th birthday. And I figured, what better way to celebrate this important milestone than by having her old man embarrass her in as public a setting as possible?

Apparently teenagers love that.

Marlie and I have a unique father-daughter relationship, as I entered the picture when she was two-and-a-half years old. Eventually, I went from "mommy's friend Sean" to "Pops," and I've always taken that role to be an incredibly important responsibility.

There are lots of funny Marlie stories I could share from the past decade-plus. For example, one time when she was a really young child and we were at a restaurant, she decided to march right into the kitchen to let the wait staff know that she was "really hungry," as though they were intentionally holding back her pasta. Despite making apologies after (not to mention a generous tip), I'm sure that restaurant put us on some sort of Do Not Fly list.

A few years back, our family was vacationing in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. One night, we visited a fun restaurant where, somehow, Pops was coaxed into participating in a dance contest on stage. As one of the losers of the contest (the whole damn thing was rigged - I have sick dance moves!), I was subject to having a pie thrown in my face. Marlie gladly volunteered for the assignment and took a little too much pleasure smashing the dessert into her old man's face. I'm still cleaning out whipped cream from behind my ears to this day.

Then there was the time, just last year, where Marlie decided to host an impromptu garage sale on our front lawn. It probably would have been fine had she done some advance preparation, such as putting up signs in the neighborhood; preparing a price list for her items; having some small bills and change ready; or making some semblance of organization of the sale items, instead of dumping them in a pile on the ground.

Oh, and did I mention that the sale took place on a weekday in the early spring? Despite her best efforts to generate sales (shouting at the handful of people who dared to walk down the street / calling friend's parents to invite them to buy her random stuff), the garage sale was not what one might call "successful."

But here's the thing about my favorite daughter: once she gets an idea in her head, she is very determined to follow it through to completion. No one can tell her otherwise. This will likely be a valuable quality later in life when she wants to conquer various goals and try new things, but right now -- especially in the early teenage years -- it's not always her most endearing quality.

This week's story isn't about that, though. It's about the first time Marlie and I had a proper vacation, just the two of us, hitting the open road.

We decided to drive from Toronto to Ottawa, a city she had never seen before. While I personally love taking road trips , part of me wasn't sure she would last the 5+ hour drive without lodging enough complaints for Pops to strongly consider driving off a cliff somewhere around Kingston. And what if we fought constantly during the road trip? I wanted to create a pleasant memory that we'd remember years later.

Armed with a bag full of snacks, activities and the promise of frequent rest stops, the drive to Ottawa was actually fine. No complaints from the backseat passenger whatsoever. And once we arrived at our destination, it truly became a positive experience for both of us.

We toured the city's fantastic Byward Market ; enjoyed a steak dinner (and yes, she refrained from barging in to the kitchen to see whether the meal was ready); visited the old Parliament buildings shortly before they were closed for renovations; took goofy pictures in front of the city's many statues; saw the changing of the guards ceremony and even perused the Bank of Canada Museum .

We also boarded an Amphibus that took us into the water and gave us a scenic view of the entire city. On the way back, we (very briefly) drove into Quebec so she could see that province for the first time, and we found a fun roadside attraction/bakery/candy shop known as The Big Apple .

Even though the trip was only for a couple of days, it was one of my all-time favorites, simply because I had the chance to connect with Marlie in a way we hadn't in the years prior.

Happy 15th Birthday, kiddo - wishing you many more fun adventures in the years to come.

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