"You're important, Daddy."

Late this afternoon, I was busily typing a short article on "Why Stars Twinkle" -- well, that's what it was supposed to be on. I can't talk about why stars twinkle without explaining astronomical "seeing" and adaptive optics and laser guide stars and...

My daughter bounced into the room and asked, "Can we split a grapefruit?" She doesn't always like grapefruit, of course, but when she does... well, she got that from me. When she doesn't like it, that's from her mom, who consistently doesn't.

I replied, "I'm typing an article on why stars twinkle, but I'll be done soon, then we can split one." She looked pleased with the answer, but also impressed that I'd be writing an article on something like that, and, giving me a big hug, gushed, "You're important, Daddy."

"Important to you?" I asked.

"Well... important to me, but important other ways, too," she replied.

I told her that she was important too -- to me, to her mom, to her friends and her teacher at school. She liked that. And we did enjoy that grapefruit.

Kids are great for the ego sometimes. :)