I’D LOVE TO say that I’m a cool dad who has enjoyed all kinds of insane adventures across the world with my kids. I’d love to say that the most fun I ever had with my two girls was when we did yoga while learning a new language as we trapezed our way across the Andes.
The reality is that my wife, Melissa, is the real adventurer of the family. And though we have travelled all over the world with the girls, at heart I’m not a super adventurous, devil-may-care kind of father. In fact, the girls tell me all the time: In the deepest recesses of my soul there lives an Italian Grandmother. She just wants everyone to eat well and to be safe and happy.
My kids don’t share my octogenarian spirit. Vivian is our oldest. She’s 17, funny and wonderful, a great artist, and has an undying love for animals. Georgie is 14 (almost 15!) and is a wonderful force of nature. She’s kind and wants to do everything in the world all at once, and has a passion and talent for acting. They want to do amazing things. I want to quietly feed everyone pasta.
So the most actual fun I have as a dad—and I’m not bullshitting you on this—is taking my daughters to school. And I don’t just mean the driving part. I love the whole morning ritual: Melissa bounds out of bed to make the girls elaborate lunches and generally does all the things that are more difficult to accomplish in the morning. I wake up slowly, make myself coffee, and if I’m lucky, manage to complete the Wordle by 9:00 am.
But once it’s time to drive my kids to school, I spring into action (like a very slow jungle cat). Viv, Georgie, and I clamber into the small SUV and Harper, our 10-year-old golden retriever who shares my love of car rides, hops in too. Now that Viv has her learner’s permit, she drives. I ride shotgun and wonder aloud about things like if it’s still okay to say, “I ride shotgun.”
Usually, Georgie is our DJ, and we listen to the girls’ music the whole time. Right now, we’re going through a rotation of Billie Eilish and the Wicked soundtrack, but also Chappelle Roan and Sabrina Carpenter. And if it sounds like I’m too much of a musical pushover, just know that every once and a while I’m allowed to play a few tracks from the legendary 80s power metal band, Dio. And there’s at least one person in the car who enjoys it.
But what I have the absolute most fun doing on these rides is—and here is where my Old World maternal instincts come out—talking. We talk about anything and everything on these drives to school: what is the best television show on right now (The Rookie or Bob’s Burgers), what is the best day of the week (Thursday is a low-key fave). The girls do bits and weird voices and impressions. I laugh hard at least three times—and it’s only a ten-minute drive. Some days the kids are tired, some days so am, but it’s always the absolute best.
With Viv a senior already and almost ready to drive on her way alone, I treasure these times with the girls because I know they’re fleeting. That’s why—even if I wake up feeling groggy, even if the coffee isn’t working like it’s supposed to, even if Wordle kicked my ass—there’s no better feeling than cruising towards school at the top of the day. Just two amazing girls, our dog, and their Italian Grandma Dad.
