gabriella

I hung out tonight with my boss, Joe, and his family. We were doing some pre-planning for the luau the Elks are going to throw on Sunday. We mostly did some surveying of the kitchen we were going to work in as well as some planning about what needed to get done tomorrow and the day of the event. We also did a test run of some of our recipes. All in all pretty laid back and quiet. Gabriella, his 5 year old daughter, was there and was good enough to keep herself entertained most of the time, even after her mom had left to go home to do some work. I went to Amici's and picked up a pizza for dinner. It was a good pizza but the best part was the dressing for the Caesar salad. It was made fresh and quite tasty, with just the hint of anchovy that all good Caesar dressings have. The entire time Gabriella and I spoke about a ton of things, her love of parmesan cheese on her pizza, what she wants to dress up as for Halloween (Snow White) and what the big red and yellow swirly thing was on the TV(Hurricane Rita). She's quite talkative and intelligent for her age.

After we were done at the Elks Club and cleaned up. Gabriella didn't want to go home quite yet. So, when asked what she wanted to do, she said she wanted to head to San Rafael Joe's for dessert and to listen to her favorite musical performer, Tommy Rocks. Tommy recognized Gabriella and greeted her mid-song as soon as she came into sight. He then proceeded to take a break so that he could talk to Gabriella and have a drink. After giving Gabriella a big hug, he sat at our table to talk to her and her father for a bit. We ordered dessert and sat around to wait for Tommy to start again. He hadn't learned Green Day's "American Idiot" yet so Gabriella asked for "'Brown Eyed Girl,' please." Tommy started in and Gabriella climbed into her father's lap to listen. As she sat on Joe's lap, he placed his arm across her. She hugged her father's arm and lay her head against his upper arm. They whispered to each other in the way parents and children do and worked out a three-song set agreement. After the first song, Tommy went into "Yellow Bird", a song that Gabriella learned from her grandfather and apparently taught him. Gabriella sang the entire song right along with Tommy.

With the third song, the Beatle's "Blackbird," (we started an avian theme) coming to a close. Gabriella's eyes looked to be growing heavy. As I watched her lay in her father's arms, I thought about what I might be like as a father. Whether I would have those moments that with my own child. I wonder if Joe realizes and cherishes moments like those that other people see and smile at, if not envy a little.

As the last song ended, Gabriella, waved goodbye to her friend and we walked out to our cars. Gabriella asked for my hand to walk her out and when we got outside I lifted her up on my shoulders and carried her to the car. After a hug and waving goodbye I smiled a bit because it felt great that Gabriella enjoys spending time with her Uncle Sherman.