The Father Daughter Dance

"Sometimes you can have a whole lifetime in a day and never notice that this is as beautiful as it gets."

·                                 Robin Williams in “The World According to Garp” 

Saturday night was the annual Father/Daughter Dance on Vashon.  My daughter Aubrey and I went for the 6^th time.  She is 17 and I am so very glad she will still attend such an event with me.  This year we had dinner and went to the dance with Steve and his daughter Quinn.  Steve is married to Kristin, one of the clinic’s excellent front staff.  The dance is a splendid event where the daughters get their dads dressed up and go to dinner and then see them attempt dancing.  The last part is not necessarily the good part.  The dance was started by some dads on the island 8 years ago and was sold out again this year.

It was held at the Vashon Country Club and while the dance floor is small there are extensive golf course grounds for the little girls to run around when not dancing.  There is also a lovely deck area where the dessert options may be enjoyed.  The social event is a mix of daughters dancing with dads

and daughters dancing with friends, little girls running about and the non-dancing dads off to the side discussing sports and yard maintenance.  Steve and Quinn and Aubrey and I danced a lot of the night away.  The dance floor area was essentially as hot as the internal core of the sun so we did take occasional golf course breaks.  Steve and Aubrey and I have some rudimentary swing dancing ability and we were not afraid to showcase it.  Aubrey and I have been swing dancing together since she was very little.

I am keenly aware that the remaining number of these dances for me is dwindling.  Aubrey will be a senior next year and has great things to do with her life.  These will most obviously soon involve not living with her parents.  I am both profoundly proud and sad as I watch her write the last pages of her childhood.  It is about living and enjoying the moments and this was a wonderful moment.  I hope to never look back and worry that I didn’t appreciate the moments.  I appreciate them beyond measure.

Quinn is only 9 and this was their first father daughter dance.  I hope Steve has many more.

Timothy R Kraabel, DVM, DABVP (Canine/Feline Practice)
Outreach Chairman, American Board of VeterinaryPractitioners