I had a lot more written in this entry. But then I added the last paragraph, which is now the only paragraph because everything else I had previously written suddenly became so trivial I had to delete it. So here is what's left, the real importance in my life, today: I feel the need to record a signifant difference I've noticed. While living at home, my father and I didn't talk much. When I was a few years younger, I used to accompany him around the block when he walked the dog at night so we could have "pinky talks". That was what we called them because we made a pinky promise to keep each others secrets and tell the truth. These talks didn't happen very often and it's perhaps because of their scarcity that made them so special. As I got older--when I became a "woman", you might say--we spoke to each other less and less. It was "can you fix this?" or "will you do that?" And that's the way it's been. However, the difference in him--in us--seems to be directly connected to my moving out and going to college. When he came one night to put a shelf up for me, he told me to do good in school. He called me on my birthday, left a message on my phone singing happy birthday. I always love to hear my daddy sing. He's no Senatra or anything, but I just love to hear him sing anyway. Even when it is that horrible country stuff, I love it. Maybe that's because he only sings when he's happy. He sang on the car ride to Kansas, and in my ear at the Cotillion Ball. I think he even sang to me at Kristen's wedding, or another. Again, it's a rarity and I think that's why it's so special to me. So he left a singing birthday voice mail for me. And today I got a message from him, apoligizing for not saying goodbye to me on Monday when I was home, but I had been sleeping and he didn't want to wake me up. And when I called him back, he said my most favorite phrase in the world, "I love you." Fast, and smushed between other words, he said it. I hardly had the chance to say it back. But it's these things, these actions from him that have made me realize something; my daddy really misses me. Even though I wasn't his Carmine, I'll always be his Bunny.