With Sam and the girls out of town this week, my evenings are free. So last night I called my daughter, Lily. There were things backed up that we needed to talk about, and I finally took a chance.

She was at home in her apartment, scrolling her phone when I called.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Hi. How are you doing?”

And that started our two hour conversation.

We covered everything. We sorted out some questions she had on her new lease. She’s moving to a new place. Then we talked about her new job. She’s starting at the bottom, but I told her the company is growing fast and looking for good people, and that if she does a good job, shows up on time, smiles, does all the training, and acts like a human being, she’ll get noticed. When opportunities come up, her name will be mentioned, and she could land a job she couldn’t get otherwise.

“I don’t think I’m that confident.” She told me.

“You need to meet people at work, say hi. Get to know the managers. Promote yourself.”

“Maybe I’ll have to develop a character to do that. That’s not really me. What should her name be?”

“Justine.” I laughed to her. She laughed back.

“Perfect. At work I’m Justine! Justine can do anything!”

It took me a while to convince her.

“Do you really think I can do that, Dad?”

“Absolutely. You can do this. You’re smart. You’re beautiful. You have a great personality. You work hard. You show up on time. You know things other people don’t know. You know how to talk to anyone about anything for an hour. You do that all day, every day. Absolutely you can do this.”

Somewhere in there she asked about finding a good man. I told her she just needs to look and be cute and go places, and the right guy will find her.

“When?”

“I don’t know. But it will work, because that’s how things work.”

We talked until my eyes started bouncing. 

“I’m going to sleep.” I told her. “Love you sweetie.”

“Love you too” she said.