Saturday, June 14, 2008

Reverse Nachas

I enjoy reading Torah in shul, and do it every few weeks. Somehow, between nap times and an attention span shorter than a tv commercial, Didi was for months never present when her daddy was leyning, and I became a bit obsessed with her hearing me leyn. It finally happened a month or so ago, and sadly, was anticlimatic; she didn't stir, didn't care, showed no signs of recognition. She's only 18 months old, after all. What could I have expected?

Then came Shavuot last week, and I leined on the first day. In the middle of the first aliyah, I hear a familiar voice, shouting excitedly from near the back of the shul, "It's daddy! Mommy, it's daddy!" (Her first sentence!) In between aliyot, I look up, and Didi's mom is standing with Didi in her arms. Didi is smiling ear to ear, waving excitedly at me, still yelling, "Daddy! It's daddy!"

And so I had my moment, better than I'd ever expected. She schepped nachas from her daddy. And I've been schepping right back at her ever since, telling the story to whoever will listen to me.

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