A Chip Off the Old Block

Today I had the pleasure of bringing Daniel to work for our company's "family day" open house holiday party, which is easily one of my favorite days of work in the year. Sarah and I agreed that the train and subway commute into the city wasn't going to be good for little Sophia, so my co-workers were deprived from meeting the two special women in my life.

Daniel loves trains and he was thrilled for the chance to ride on NJ Transit's spanking new double-decker trains. We managed to get seats on Daniel's preferred upper deck with Daniel propped on my computer bag to give him a better view, and his eyes just gazed out of the window the entire time on the trip into Penn Station, the silence broken only with occasional excited whispers of "Daddy, look! Another doubler-decker train!" or "Daddy, look! Switching tracks!"

As soon as we stepped off the train into a crowded Penn Station, I sternly reminded Daniel that under no circumstances should he let go of my hand. A devious thought came across my mind. Almost ten years ago, I was on a missions trip in El Salvador and was responsible on the first day of arrival to e-mail all of our team members' parents to let them know that we had all arrived safely. Upon returning from the Internet Cafe, I told my good friend Don, "I wrote to your father and said 'Dear Mr. Kim, I regret to inform you that your son is dead.'" Don's eyes widened like saucers and he said with a voice with alarm, "You did not just do that. My father has heart problems." I assured him that I was kidding, and he proceeded to call me a "dork" and he also might have punched me a few times. In a similar vein, I was thinking that maybe it'd be funny if I called Sarah and in a panic said, "I can't find Daniel! I just left him alone at the newsstand for ten minutes while I was buying my latte!" and then tell her I was just messing with her after she goes into hysterics. Then I realized that maybe it wouldn't be that funny and I'd surely pay for it with my life.

I first took Daniel to see the Macy's window displays, which detail scenes from the movie Miracle on 34th Street. We got to my office, and Daniel had a blast doing rings with my office chair, playing with some of my trinkets (foam sports balls and Star Wars models) and staring out of my 8th story office window towards the intersection of 42nd and Third scolding the taxis "come on, let's go!" We went to the Conference Center where costumed Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Shrek, Raggedy Ann & Andy waved and exchanged hugs and high-fives with employees' kids, while stockings full of candy were being handed out. In the middle of the room, Santa and Mrs. Claus greeted kids as they sat on Santa's lap and made their requests known, with a photographer snapping a picture which was then put in a frame and given to each visitor.

We returned to my office where he met some of my colleagues, continued some of his artwork on my dry-erase board, ate some more cookies and apple juice, and then we head back home on the train in the middle of a Winter Wonderland.

So Daniel got to do what his dad does every day - if you just swap out hugging children's characters and being fed juice and cookies with facilitating meetings, creating PowerPoint presentations, and doing e-mail - plus add seven more hours to your day, you could hardly tell the difference. Oh, to complete the simulation, I did make Daniel shovel the snow with me when we got home. Being the man in the house is tough, son.