Father/Daughter Bonding

I took my daughter to Retro on Roscoe Saturday afternoon to see Ralph's World. In person, Ralph's World is the first children's music band that looks like any other garage band. All four members were wearing faded jeans and T-shirts. Ralph has let his hair grow long, and from some angles he looks like one of my college roommates. To our surprise, they released a new CD -- their fifth -- just a few days before, so we secured a copy.

My daughter had a permanent awe-inspired grin on her face. I think she knew what was going on. The band played several older songs. When I wasn't holding her on my shoulders to see Ralph, who was never more than fifty feet away, I was letting her dance in front of me. It was a real treat for both of us.

Afterward, we had dinner with family that live a block away. Convenient, no?

I consider this my first official father/daughter date, and I really enjoyed it. If only I had left the house a half hour earlier, we could have caught more Ralph, or "Rolf" as my daughter calls him. In all honesty, she didn't care when Ralph stopped playing music or when we left during his second set. She's laid back that way.