Another coronavirus casualty: One last daddy-daughter dance with my fifth-grader
After sitting in a drawer for a year, the giant, rainbow-colored lollipop probably deserved to have been tossed into the trash, but being awarded that prize for the “Best Twist” remains an all-time achievement.
For a few seconds, I was the Lord of the Dance, at least in the eyes of my daughter Vivian. That moment came last spring at the fourth-grade daddy-daughter dance, which turns out will be our last.
During the last three months people have suffered far greater losses, and in the scheme of a pandemic a canceled daddy-daughter does not register on sadness scale, but it still stinks.
I knew I’d regret missing her first, because I wound up covering the “Fight of the Century” in Vegas instead of capturing one of those personal lifelong memories that I cannot recreate. Moms and dads, don’t make my mistake: Always pick the dance.
Everyone lost, or missed, something during the COVID-19 cancellations, and alterations. High school graduations online. Virtual college spring breaks. Drive-by birthday parties.
Or one last chance to twist and shout with my daughter in her school gym, to win a box of candy, before she realizes dancing with her dad is a source of embarrassment, not pride.
I only wish we could have attended her fifth-grade version, because the chance to cover a majorly-hyped bout is still not better than a daddy-daughter dance.
In the spring of 2015, I was on the books to cover the Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao boxing match in Las Vegas. Covering a big prize fight in Vegas had been on my bucket list, and I was given the go-ahead in January.
Unbeknownst to me, the date of the fight, May 2, turned out to be the same night as what would have been my first daddy-daughter dance. But all of the arrangements for Vegas had already been made ...
Covering the event was fun and memorable, because the scene topped the fight.
It’s always fun to tell the story of how I unintentionally fell into the A-lister’s lounge with Tom Brady, Robert DeNiro, Pharrell Williams, Claire Danes, Russell Westbrook, Jon Voight, Russian model Irina Shayk, et all.
It’s fun to say I sat in front of Sting, Jesse Jackson, Magic Johnson, and Michael Strahan.
But it is also better to do the Macarena with your kid.
Vivian went to the dance with a few friends, and turned on the tears of sadness when we spoke over the phone after it was done. Anyone who says kids don’t master manipulation by the time they are three days old is either lying, or in denial.
A few days later after the fight, I was recounting the story when I was a member of the morning show on 105.3 The Fan with hosts Shan Shariff and R.J. Choppy. Shan asked if I had to do over it again, would I pick the fight, or the daddy-daughter dance?
I said the dance, which likely few believed. Pacquiao-Mayweather turned out to be just another sporting event, albeit with more hype, and none of it topped trying to Footloose with Vivian.
As I came to learn the following year, the expensive corsage will soon be lost, or trampled. Much of a daddy-daughter dance turns into extended recess. Kids plays with their friends, while dads talk among themselves.
Then there are the spontaneous moments that Hallmark or Hollywood screen writers cannot create. On a small gym floor, with kids screaming, sweating, laughing and giggling as they dance to lyrics they don’t understand, to songs made famous decades before their arrival.
As I age (gracefully), I see now that my memory bank is running out of room. You can’t store everything, and some things have to go.
I will never forget a dance with Vivian, as a second-grader, when she gave me a look when I realized she thought I was her future husband.
No one is winning during the time of the coronavirus. All of us missed out on an event or two. Any virtual simulation is a noble, memorable attempt, and not in any way the same.
For me, COVID-19 took away my last chance to be The Lord of the Dance with my daughter.
For future moms and dads: should something present itself that you can miss to dance with your kid, shaking it up with your baby is better than the fight of a century.
