family: ...operator, information, get me...

... daddy on the line!
(Being a recap of my first conversation with the girls.)

Yesterday I had my first chance to talk to M and the girls since leaving Birmingham. As previously noted, I had somewhat limited expectations with regard to how it might go. And it went more or less as I anticipated, though it also occurrs to me that I may be doing K&L a disservice in thinking that a phone call doesn't adequately communicate my love.

In any case, I called to get some details about an online account, and after M and I dealt with that, there was a line queued up to chat with me.

Stripes and Tot
(Birmingham Zoo)

First up, L:

L: (breathing in phone)
me: Hi L.
L: Hi. Daddy, K puthed me and I started to cwy becauthe she puthed me and I wath cwying and my mommy gave me the telephone to talk with you.
me: Uh... I miss you.
L (whispering, her voice growing quickly softer with each sentence she speaks): I mith you too.
me: How are you? What have you been doing?
L: Talking to you.
me: Did you see the puppets last night?
L: Yeah.
me (not realizing that the phone has already been handed to M): I love you.

(M comes on, laughing, and we recap my conversation with L, after which she passes the phone to K.)

K, on Lion
(Birmingham Zoo)

K: Hi Daddy.
me: Hi K. I miss you.
K: I miss you too.
me: Did you see puppets last night?
K (voice increasingly quiet): Yeah.
me: Were they big?
K: Yeah, really big.
me: How tall were they?
K: Really tall. Daddy, we watched Black Beauty.
me: You did? That's cool.
K: Yeah. Ginger dies.
me (trying to remember anything about the story beyond Black Beauty = nice horse): Yeah?
K: Yeah. You know what Black Beauty is?
me: Yeah, I've read it. It's a book, a long book. We could read it some time. It would take a while, like Charlotte's Web, but we could ready it.
K: Ok.
(in the background L is calling out that she wants another turn at the phone)
me: I love you.
K: I love you too. Bye.

(M comes on and asks if I have time for one more talk with L.)

L: We watched Black Beauty!
me: You did?
L: Yeah.
(silence)
(in the background M is telling L that they need to let Daddy go.)
me: I love you!
L: I love you too.

(M comes on and after a brief conversation during which I wish her good luck, we say goodbye.)