This should be interesting . . .

How this plays out is yet to be seen, but the ex - I'll come up with something appropriate to call her in these posts at some point - has moved back to town. That in and of itself is no big deal and was expected. The unusual part is that she's moved a mere 1,000 feet from me (if I walk across the green belt outside my place.)

From a purely practical standpoint, it would seem this would certainly make things easier for K, as she can walk to mom's from dad's. Last minute childcare issues can be more easily resolved, etc.

But beyond that, this seems rife with potentially bad outcomes. With proximity, the boundaries - both physical and abstract - will most likely be harder to maintain. When K is here, as she will most often be, will we be subject to too many calls, drive bys, attempted drop ins, and questions as to our goings on every time we're seen heading out the door? What happens when K is with her mom and I'm spotted with a date? For now, this is hypothetical and assumes a) there is a woman to date and b) she lets me bring her to the house. But still . . .

She's already crossed the line with me, via text, even after being told several times our "relationship" is limited to things pertaining to our daughter. "Let's meet out in the sprinklers" or "wanna go swimming?" Messages like that mere hours after me stating in no uncertain terms I didn't want to be around her. And that's while K is at camp. What happens when she comes home?

It just adds an interesting element to this whole arrangement, and I wonder how many other divorced parents live close by their exes. Or should I start house hunting?

Summer camp's no picnic (for me)

She's not here tonight. Off to summer camp for two straight weeks. No calls, and only written correspondence. Ouch. Haven't gone longer than 48 hours speaking to her, ever. But she was so excited - her first camp experience, complete with skiing, horses, archery, campfires. The all-American camp experience. I'd LOVE to go to camp for two weeks.

When I checked her into her cabin, she became fast friends with the girl that grabbed the bunk next to her. Horse lovers seem drawn to each other, and within five minutes - after I unpacked her stuff and made her bed - K was ready for me to "make like a tree and leave." She's going to have a great time, but I'm actually astonished at how much I miss her. And she's only been here, full time, for a week.

I know there will come a time when I'll be trying to find baby sitters, or arrange a sleep over, just so I can get some time to myself. But that's down the road. Right now, I'm thinking this is going to be a long two weeks.

So I'm her dad now. For real.

This weekend, I've become a dad. To an eleven year old girl. Oh, I've been her parent - the sperm donor - for all of those years, but it's different now.

I'm sitting in my living room of what just a few days ago was a bachelor pad so to speak. Next to the flat screen TV are two American Girl dolls, sitting in American Girl chairs, with American girl dogs in their laps. I find that I like this.

In the next room is the topic of this post, the eleven year old. I can hear her in there filming yet another short movie about horses. She does all the voices while simultaneously "directing" various Breyer horses around her room, or outside, or in the car, or wherever she happens to be. In a little while, she'll upload what she's shot, do some quick editing, and post it to her YouTube account. I like this too. The sound of her in there, her quirky creativeness, her simply being in the next room.

She wasn't for a while. For too long. Over two years away riding out a divorce with bizarre twists and turns. And before that, was I really there? One could argue that I was not. I'm here now. Yet another thing I like.

This afternoon, I sent an email out to my team at work regarding one of our artists, who's song was playing on Radio Disney. I was simply making an observation, but in a reply, one of my co-workers pointed out how my life just did a 180. A summer Saturday afternoon and I'm listening to Radio Disney. And I liked it. I'll listen again.

So the point is, I'm liking this. Through all the trials and tribulations I've gone through to get here, my girl is home, with me, and even better, WANTS to be home with me. I really like this.

So I'm a dad now. For real. and I like this most of all.