Today is my little girl’s 11th birthday. She is one step closer to having the –teen suffix added to her age, and while I am excited to see what kind of woman she will grow to become, I can also wait a little while for it to happen!
So what do you get a girl who is growing up?
Well, I’ll tell you what I did, I gave in to the incessant requests for, lemme take a breath here, a cell phone.
(man, that kinda hurt to type…)
I took her a pizza and bottle of water to school for lunch and ate with her. (How is it I always manage to BRING pizza on the very day they’re SERVING it at the cafeteria?)
I set a small, pink bag with a cupcake decoration on in atop the pizza box, she opened it, and the realization set in that SHE. HAD. A. PHONE.
I was Dad Of The Year!
Then it hit me, looking around at a cafeteria full of boys. She from here on out going to be asked “Can I get yer number?”
What have I done?!?
Seriously, there may have been one or two other girls in that cafeteria, but at that particular moment, all I saw was a room of what will eventually be called “guys”. Doesn’t Brownwood ISD take fathers of little girls into consideration here?? I mean c’mon, a cafeteria full of boys?? How do you even plan that out?
My heart eventually returned to my chest cavity, after a brief vacation to my throat. I could then see other colors besides red, and I was once again able to see my beaming daughters face. That made it all worth it.
Am I tied around her finger? Son, I am super-glued to it!
We will go over the rules of use, the finer points of pictures and cell phones, and responsibilities that come with such a device later. Right now, I am just enjoying watching her touch the phone, look at it, feel the weight in her hand, and imagine her mind exploring the possibilities of who she could call.
Better not be any of those boys I saw in that room….
Ben Cox is the morning show host of “Ben Cox in the Morning” on KQBZ, 96.9 FM in Brownwood Texas. He is the new in-stadium voice of the Howard Payne Yellow Jackets football team, & Ben is also an event DJ for weddings, parties and the like, and can be contacted through the Brownwood Area Chamber of Commerce.
The thoughts and comments reflected in this column are those of the writer alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of Wendlee Broadcasting, or its affiliates.