and now, a brief pause

One of our BD guys, Pooj Preena, called me tonight. He and I are tight and talk quite often, so it's not unexpected to get a call from him on Monday at 7 a.m. or Saturday at noon. I love talking to him.

This time, I ignored his call. My hands were elbow-deep in dishwater, getting ready for a weekend food foray. A few minutes later, I called him back.

He has a spare ticket for the Prince concert tonight. His wife isn't up to par, and he, Michael, and Michael's wife are headed out soon to the party.

I look over at my daughter -- all sassy, smart, and sometimes-still-clingy 12 years of her -- and for one half-second consider the sitter.

This is the girl who's endured me as I've worked every night for months. This is the girl who hints at her desire for my company by simply saying, from the other room, "Hey, a new show is on!" This is the girl who is fast becoming a young woman, the baby who threw up down my tie 11 years ago, the toddler to whom I gave a horrible, slanted hair cut with dull scissors when she was three and we were just starting out together by ourselves.

"I can't go, Pooj -- no way I can get a sitter on this short of notice."

That was true.

Equally true is that fact that there's no way I would've wanted to hire one.

Instead, she and I laughed and cuddled and had fun like it was 1999, watching bad TV re-runs.

Thanks, Poojay -- hope you guys had fun, too.